


Camp Sunset

by mmmdraco



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Comeplay, Hand Jobs, M/M, Minor Allison Argent/Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall, Minor Lydia Martin/Jackson Whittemore, Oral Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-01-18 16:40:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1435459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmdraco/pseuds/mmmdraco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Stiles' second summer as a counselor at Camp Sunset. It's Derek Hale's first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's been years since I went to summer camp and I've never done the counselor thing so there will probably be loads of inaccuracies. However, this idea came to mind and wouldn't go away, so I'm writing it and hope you all enjoy.

There was already the sound of children's laughter in the air. Stiles groaned. That was never good. He dashed toward the sound of the laughter, his fingers curling at the sight of two of the new campers wrestling while several others looked on. "Hey, guys. Um, you're not supposed to hit each other. You know this."

The taller boy stood up, arms crossing over his chest, and glared at Stiles. "My daddy told me I could do whatever I wanted at camp."

"Well, here's the thing. He actually signed an agreement that you would behave or Camp Sunset could send you home. Do you really wanna go home?" Stiles hoped against hope that this was one of the campers whose parents decided to toss their kids in camp for a week while they went on vacation and therefore made a big deal about the behaving.

The boy tossed his hair back, or at least used the same motion. Stiles wondered whether the buzz cut was a recent thing. "Home's just as boring as this place is." He stalked off.

"You've been here for like two hours!" Stiles sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Dinner's at the mess hall at six! You miss it, you don't eat." He looked at the other kids standing around and then to the duffel bag still sitting in the dirt. "This his?" At the nods from several of the kids around, Stiles grinned and picked up the bag, taking it with him to the counselor's tent that sat in the center of the other eight tents that made up their camp site.

Once inside, it didn't take long to go through the bag and remove all of the snacks that had been smuggled in. There was other camp contraband in there, but it was the snacks that Stiles was most worried about. There was enough to be worried about with a bunch of kids in the woods. It should be the one time that they didn't have to worry about peanut allergies. Never mind that most of those kids would discover they were allergic to at least three other things at camp. Besides, Stiles had missed out on eating lunch himself because one of the other counselors was late so he'd had to pull double duty at check-in. 

This was why Stiles met the new counselor with half of a Snickers bar shoved in his mouth. 

The new guy was buff. He seemed tall, but once he got closer, Stiles realized they were about the same height. He pointed to one of the bunks and asked, "That one free?"

Stiles was quick to chew and swallow and amazingly didn't choke. "Uh, that one's mine. But, the next one down is free." He wiped his mouth and smiled. "Hi. I'm Stiles Stilinski. I assume you're Derek Hale?"

Putting his bag on the bunk, the guy nodded. "Yeah. I figured you'd be Stiles. Scott showed me the path to get here and Isaac's the one who recommended me for the job."

"We've got one camper already trying to run off." Stiles checked the tag on the duffel bag. "Sven Langston. Well, he looked nothing like a Sven."

Derek let out a soft growl. "Why do you have a camper's luggage?"

Stiles held up the Snickers bar. "He had contraband. Also, he was being a dick. I'll return it when he comes looking for it. But, seriously, he was wrestling with one of the other kids and tried to pull some macho act with me."

"I take it it's not your first summer here, then." Derek leafed through the candy that Stiles had removed from the bag, grabbing a box of Raisinets for himself as though he was picking the thing closest to health food.

"Nah. Second." Stiles nibbled another peanut from the Snickers bar. "You done the counselor thing before?"

Derek shrugged. "Something like that. Not really a summer camp. Survival camp."

"Yeah, that's gotta be pretty similar." Stiles grinned and then turned his head toward the door, hearing more laughter. "I hope it was one of the zombie ones. Zombies and kids at summer camp? The only difference is that you're never really certain if it's brains in the mystery casserole in the mess hall or not."

The grin Derek gave him at that, flashing bright even in the low light of the perma-tent they were in, made Stiles' mouth go a little dry. "Stiles, maybe we should get out there and actually do our jobs."

Shoving the rest of the Snickers bar in his mouth and then piling the rest of the candy into a bin that went under his bed, Stiles followed behind Derek. "So, um, everyone else agreed that because you were late that you got to take dinner duty."

Derek looked back at him. "And what exactly does dinner duty entail?"

"Just kind of keeping everyone in order? It's the first night of camp for most of the kids and some of the counselors so Ms. Kirk will go through everything that needs to be done. I mean, me, Scott, and Isaac will still be there to help out. But, you get to take lead so everyone hates you first." Stiles cleared his throat as his eyes roamed over Derek's chest. "But, you know, I'm sure you had a good reason for being late so I can always help out some more?"

"I overslept," Derek said, walking back toward Stiles. "I'll take my punishment." Suddenly, his thumb was brushing over Stiles' lips. "And maybe you shouldn't walk around with chocolate all over you. You don't want to give campers ideas, do you?"

Stiles licked his lips immediately, swearing to himself that he totally didn't taste anything other than chocolate. "So, um, yeah. We should probably go check that everyone's getting settled in and remind them that the camp tour is at two."

"I'll get tents one through four." Derek waved one hand at him and was on his way.

Tent five was the counselor's tent, so tent six meant that Stiles had to turn a little which meant looking away from Derek. Only, he was maybe a little faster with the turning away than with the looking away and suddenly had a face full of pine tree branches. Spitting pine needles from his mouth, he forged through the treeline and over to the tent, leaning his head in first. "Hey, Kyle! I didn't see you were back. And Matt? You weren't supposed to get that much taller." He pointed to the two campers he didn't yet know. "Okay, I don't know you guys, so you probably don't know me, but I'm Stiles and I'm going to be your favorite counselor."

One of the kids he didn't know yet rolled his eyes. "I like Isaac. He doesn't talk."

"I will be happy to shut up once I know you're going to behave to the most minimal of standards." He shrugged. "Tell me your names first."

Eye roller answered first. "Steve." 

The other unknown raised a hand. "Tommy. Can I go to the bathroom?"

Stiles nodded. "Yeah, of course. Kyle? Can you go show Tommy where the bathroom is?" He pointed at Steve. "You need to go, too?"

"Only girls go to the bathroom in packs." Steve opened his bag and pulled out a phone.

Quickly grabbing the phone, Stiles smiled. "Actually, wolves do sometimes. And phones aren't allowed since you don't have anywhere to charge them. I'll power this down, though, and put it in the camp director's office for safe keeping until your parents get here. Anyone else have a phone they need to have stored away?" No one answered. "Good. Okay, get your beds made and your bags tucked away underneath. Dinner's at six, but we're going to do a tour of the camp here in a half hour or so. I'll swing back by to get you guys!" 

He retreated back from the tent and began to move on to the next one only to see Scott in the distance who called out to him, "Stiles!"

"Yeah?" Stiles wondered what plant Scott had gotten attacked by this time.

"There's a new girl counselor. Allison. She's amazing and I need you to switch nights off with me so that I can ask her out." Scott was practically jumping with enthusiasm.

Stiles reeled back a little. "Wait! You want to switch nights with me and you haven't even asked her out yet? What if she says no?"

"She won't, okay? She gave me this smile. And she had these dimples and they were just... And I let her borrow my pen!" Scott looked like he was about to burst into song.

"Fine. It's not like I was going to do anything other than going out to eat anyway." Stiles took a few steps toward the next tent. "Hey, Derek and I are doing the tent checks, but there's one kid who's already run off. Sven... something or other. Go see if you can find him and catch up with us on the camp tour. The kids all go for your puppy dog eyes." He slapped Scott's shoulder. "Hey, maybe Allison will, too!"

Scott smiled shyly. "You think?" He looked up suddenly. "Sven... the one with the buzz cut?"

"Yeah. You meet him already?" Stiles tried to work a piece of peanut out from between his molars using his tongue.

"I did. He couldn't find his tent at first." Scott frowned. "I'll find him. We'll meet you guys over by the infirmary."

Stiles raised his eyebrows. "I just hope you don't need to go in. See ya, Scotty."

Scott ran off and Stiles entered the next tent, following the same routine. Only, this time he didn't recognize any of the campers. Thankfully, one of them still knew where the bathrooms were and went to show the others. He figured one of those four would be the one to come to him to complain that the bathroom was really just four outhouses stuck together. He just hoped the spiders hadn't nested yet. Two most tents yielded three more campers he knew. It also yielded a bruised shin from where new camper Charlie told him he looked like a middle-schooler and shoved him out of the doorway where he managed to twist and fall against the step that led into the perma-tent. "You're not getting dessert tonight, Charlie! I'm eating your cookies."

"I would have said at least a freshman," Derek said, suddenly right beside Stiles.

Groaning, Stiles pointed at the tent. "Jokes. They're jokers! I'm 19. And I'd make some remark about how often I have to shave, but then I see your face and I'm kind of just stunned into silence."

"Your silence is really loud." Derek hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. "I hope you're not expecting me to lead the tour. Other than the day I got hired, I haven't been here since I was eleven."

Stiles tucked the confiscated cell phone into his pocket and shrugged. "You don't wanna go in at the deep end? Okay, fine. I'll get Isaac to lead and you and I can be in the back and I'll point out some extra stuff for you. Trust me, you'll want to know for when some camper figures out how to get somewhere they aren't supposed to be."

"I..." Derek nodded his head. "Yeah. That'll be nice. So, um, is there anything I should know about you?"

Confused, Stiles felt his mouth hanging open for a moment. "Uh, no. I mean, is there anything you'd like to know? I'm an open book, man. Ask away."

"You say that... but we just met." Derek smirked. "If I ask for your most embarrassing moment, I doubt you'll tell me the real one."

"Most embarrassing moment? Last year at camp. I had a crush on one of the other counselors and ended up confessing it over the intercom at dinner because I slipped in mashed potatoes and hit the button and couldn't shut up about it for the ten seconds required to fall. And then I needed to get stitches." Stiles grimaced at the memory, but it couldn't quite diminish all of the grin that just looking at Derek put on his face.

Derek snorted. "So, is she back this year and going to make your summer interesting?"

"First, I never said 'she'. Granted, yes, Lydia is back and will make life interesting, but she was very loud with her refusal. Very loud. I'll have to find a new summer crush." Stiles sighed dramatically.

"You'll just have to find a better crush. Make her jealous." Derek checked his watch. "Okay, good. Still a few minutes before the tour."

Stiles bit his lower lip, staring at Derek for a moment. "You know, it only works to make someone jealous if you pick someone hotter. And the only person here hotter than Lydia is you. Do you want me to have a crush on you?"

Derek met his gaze and smirked. "I can think of far worse camp experiences."

Stiles clamped his teeth together to keep himself from squeaking. "Okay. Well, we'll need to talk about that later when little ears aren't listening in."

"Yeah." Derek laughed and turned back toward the tents. "They're already annoying me. That's not a good start, is it?"

"Sure it is. You start annoyed and end up wishing they'd stay. I try to make that same impression." Stiles sighed. "Well, let me go find Isaac and we'll get this thing started." He walked past Derek and turned his head to wink at him. "Get the kids in a line?"

Derek rolled his eyes, but smiled. "Sure."

It only took a few moments to find Isaac where he was looking inside the bathrooms. "Spiders?" Stiles asked, jogging over.

"I hope not. Although, better here than the girl's. At least the boys aren't afraid to pee in the woods." Isaac shrugged. "There are ladybugs, though."

Stiles nodded. Plenty of campers confused all insects for spiders. "Cool. Okay, so, Derek's lining up kids for the tour but you're leading it. Scott should meet up with us around the infirmary and I'm going to be at the back with Derek telling him extra stuff to look out for."

Isaac groaned. "Why can't you take the lead? You know I don't like talking."

"Which is why this is good for you, buddy! Come on. One kid already said he liked you better than me." Stiles patted Isaac's shoulder and headed back toward the tents.

Isaac jogged in front of him and up to where Derek was, relieving him of command. Stiles watched as Isaac instructed everyone on how to stay in line, counting off the campers into a buddy system and buddying himself with the one kid leftover until they found Sven. Derek joined Stiles at the back of the line and groaned. "I wish bug repellent actually worked on me."

"Here, try this." Stiles pulled off one of the rubber bracelets he was wearing, handing it over to Derek. "Most stuff doesn't work on me either, but these bracelet things work pretty well."

Derek took the bracelet, holding it in front of him for a moment. "I guess it's worth a shot." He slid it on, rubbing his wrist where the bracelet had caught in his arm hair. "Any idea what the dinner's supposed to be tonight?"

"Rumor has it that tonight is actually hot dogs, baked beans, and chips. If you value your life, skip the baked beans. I'm pretty sure they're seasoned with horseradish and dirt." Stiles shook his head at the memory.

"I'm intrigued by the description. Maybe I'll get a spoonful just to set a good example for the kids." Derek started to walk as the kids in front of him moved.

Stiles shuddered. "Better you than me." He jumped over a tree root in order to stay side by side with Derek. "Okay, so we're heading clockwise around the camp to show everything off, but there's a lot of other paths that go through here, too. You'll learn most of them by next week. We try not to walk past the girl camps so our campers are less likely to try to find them at 2am, but this'll at least give you an idea of where everything is." He paused. "Did they give you a map?"

"Yeah. But I'm used to a different kind of map." Derek shrugged, looking entirely comfortable with his hands in his pockets as he strolled along even though Stiles was already starting to feel a little winded. "It's going to be interesting to see how different it is to watch kids than it is to try to teach people my age."

"What's your specialty?" Stiles gestured toward Isaac with one hand. "Isaac does a lot of the boat stuff and Scott's in charge of teaching the kids to ride horses. Are you the new archery specialist?"

Derek cleared his throat. "Actually, arts and crafts."

Stiles clapped one hand over his mouth. "Seriously? Me too!" He grinned. "You're gonna go home with so many macaroni pictures."

"My dream come true," Derek deadpanned. "If we're going to get to work together on it, you about we work on things like sculpture in addition to food art and glitter glue?"

Grinning, Stiles nodded. "You're still going to go home covered in glitter. But, it's awesome." He suddenly tripped, but righted himself almost immediately after hitting the ground. "And there goes any chance I had of anyone having their summer crush be me."

"You can't really say that until the summer's over, can you?" Derek raised an eyebrow at Stiles.

"Y-yeah, I guess." Stiles pointed to a path off to his right. "If you take that all the way to the end, you'll find the bonfire pit we use on the nights the kids aren't here. There's also a panic room type thing just in case of... I don't even know. Emergencies? It wouldn't hold everybody, but it would probably hold all of the staff."

Derek gave him a strange look. "Stiles? You're bleeding."

Stiles looked down and noticed that his shoe was a lot more red than he'd remembered it being. A second later, he noticed a giant drop of blood splash against his shoelace, drawing his attention to the rather large cut on his knee. "Well, how about that?"

If anyone asked later, he fainted from the blood loss rather than the sight of the blood.


	2. Chapter 2

"Huh?" Stiles blinked, trying to bring the world into focus. "What am I-"

"You're still kind of bleeding," said a voice behind him. Only, rather, it was kind of below him? Stiles swung his head around, realizing that the new counselor, Derek, was carrying him. "We're almost to the infirmary."

Stiles nodded and let his arms loop around Derek's neck, figuring that being awake only heightened his chances of falling. "I totally missed showing you the way to Make Out Point, then."

Derek laughed. "You can show me later. For now, let's get you patched up. We're here."

Waving at Isaac as they walked past, Stiles took a moment to just relax against Derek as they made their way into the infirmary. "You're really strong to carry me this far like it's nothing." He paused. "Hey, where's Scott?"

"Stiles?" Suddenly Scott was in the hallway. "Dude! What happened?"

"I got a rock to the knee. Don't worry. It's not an arrow, so I can still be an adventurer." Stiles narrowed his eyes at Scott. "Did you find Sven?"

Scott rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yeah. Nurse Patsy's trying to wash him down. He got into a patch of poison oak... because he thought it was marijuana."

Stiles made a gagging noise. "Nooo! Poison oak is the worst." He turned to Derek. "I got it on my butt last year. Having to ask Scotty here to apply my calamine lotion was not my greatest moment." He pointed further into the infirmary. "Now, to a table with me! I just hope the blood comes out of my shoes."

"And Derek's shirt," Scott said, helping Derek set Stiles down. "You want me to patch you up?"

"And miss out on Nurse Patsy's care?" Stiles nodded. "Yes. But really just because I know you're good." He turned to look at Derek again as Scott moved to gather supplies. "You know, you've got enough of my blood on you that I feel it's a good idea to let you know that I've been tested and I'm clean of everything."

Derek snorted. "Good. That makes two of us." He cleared his throat. "I probably shouldn't leave Isaac alone with thirty-one pre-teen boys. See you later?"

"I'm hard to miss." Stiles grinned and then lay back. "Okay. Woozy. It's a thing. Later!"

With a smile, Derek left just in time for Scott to come over with his hands full. "You looked pretty cozy with him."

"Muscles that tight should not be so comfortable." Stiles splayed his hands over his face, pulling them down as he groaned. "My summer love can bench press me. What does that say about me?"

Scott shrugged. "I think it says more that he wrapped your knee up pretty good with his bandanna." He pulled on a pair of purple nitrile gloves and undid the bandanna, wincing as he saw the wound. "I think you might need some peroxide on that."

Stiles nodded. "Yeah. Just go ahead." He closed his eyes, trying not to groan as the liquid hit his knee and seemed to bubble. "Oh, that feels gross."

"It doesn't look all that great, either." Scott dabbed at the wound with a gauze pad. "You can move your knee still, right?"

Wincing, Stiles stretched out his leg and bent his knee slightly before straightening it again. "Yeah. Just need a butterfly bandage on it, you think?"

"Yeah." Scott took another moment to clean the blood off of Stiles' leg, then applied the butterfly. "That feel okay?"

Stiles shrugged. "It doesn't hurt extra. I'll take it. Can you grab me a couple of Tylenol?"

Scott's eyes darted over to the corner of the room where the nurse was still scrubbing at Sven's hands, his dark hair sticking up from where it seemed he'd been forced to change clothes first. "Dude, she counts those."

"Fine." Stiles slid off of the table, wincing as he stood up. "I am totally glad I saved the Reese's to eat later. Nature's painkiller right there." He shook his head, looking back over at Sven. "You want to go join the tour and I'll stay here until he's ready? Maybe Patsy will take pity on me."

Pursing his lips, Scott reached out to nudge Stiles' arm. "Maybe take Sven down to see the arts and crafts room before dinner? Get him started on a lanyard so he'll have something to do with his hands other than scratching." He paused. "It's not that I don't think you could do the walk back to the tent and then to dinner and back. But, I care about you, dude. And Sven? He seems like he needs a little caring, too."

Stiles nodded. "And this is why you're never the favorite, Scott. Instead of being the fun counselor, you're the one who actually makes people better people. If I didn't love ya, I'd hate ya." He sat back down on the table, trying to keep his injured knee still and already failing miserably. "Tell Derek I'll see him at dinner. And, uh, Isaac, too?"

"Yeah. Got it." Scott moved over to where Sven and Nurse Patsy were, murmuring to them softly for a minute. He left with a wave a moment later, jogging out of the building.

One leg nervously jiggling in hopes that it would let the other stay still, Stiles looked around the room, noting how there were new chairs and Nurse Patsy had gotten a new clipboard. He was halfway through reading an informative poster on the wall about allergies which required a lot of squinting when he suddenly noticed Nurse Patsy in front of him, her white blonde hair somehow blurring the lines between Betty White and Billy Idol. "Oh, hey! Patsy, darling, you know I missed you. Did you miss me, too?"

She held up a small bottle of water and a little paper cup with two tablets of Tylenol in it. "I restocked the Batman band-aids just for you. What do you think?"

Quickly taking the medicine, Stiles laughed. "I think I hope I don't have to use them all again this year. Sven good to go?"

"Yeah. He'll need to report here before meals to get more calamine lotion and after swimming, but he should be fine. Scott got him here pretty quickly after his exposure. You good to walk?" She took the paper cup back from him, glancing back at Sven and yelling, "Don't scratch!"

Stiles stood up and stepped forward, wincing and letting out his breath in a long, slow exhale, but nodded. "Yeah. Sven and I are gonna go make some lanyards until dinner so I don't need to walk too much until later."

Nurse Patsy grinned. "Good. Take care of yourself this year. You grew into your limbs a little more so maybe you'll stop banging them against things."

"Maybe?" Stiles tried to quell all outward reaction as his mind went to Derek and hoped there would indeed be some banging against things.

"Get out of here, Stiles. Make me a sparkly pink lanyard." She patted his shoulder and moved toward Sven. "Okay, sweetie. You can go with Stiles now."

When Sven got over to him, Stiles grinned. "Guess what? We're gonna go make lanyards before anyone else gets to."

Sven demonstrated that he was very good at rolling his eyes. "I want to go swimming."

Stiles put one hand on Sven's neck, pushing him gently so the kid started walking toward the door. "Well, you don't get to swim yet. The pool's getting cleaned tonight so it's ready for all of you guys tomorrow. But, I promise that the lanyards are really cool and if you know how to make the spiral ones? All the other kids are going to want to come up to you to ask how."

"Really?" Sven let Stiles walk beside him, directing him toward the mess hall. "Hey, why are you walking funny?"

Pausing, Stiles gestured to his knee. "I fell down."

"That's lame." Sven wrinkled his nose and kept walking.

"Well, yeah." Stiles laughed and tried to catch up again. "But it's also lame to run off at camp."

Sven groaned and Stiles could just see that he was rolling his eyes again. "I was exploring."

"And you got poison oak. Think you can stick with the rest of the group from now on? We're going swimming tomorrow and there's going to be a treasure hunt and we're going to try to get you guys into groups for the talent show." Stiles tried to hide the fact that his knee felt a little like it was on fire; amazing since he hadn't even been the one to notice he'd injured himself in the first place.

"Why would I want to be in a talent show? I'm not good at anything." Sven kicked a rock out of their path, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Stiles nodded. "Maybe you're not good at anything you've tried. I know that feeling. But, sometimes? You just have to try some new things and then you'll eventually do something that other people appreciate you doing as much as you have fun doing it."

Sven paused, pulling one hand out of his pockets to glare at it. "I only got sent to camp so my dad could go on a honeymoon with his new wife. I didn't even want to come so why should I have to try?"

Breathing a sigh of relief as they finally reached the door to the arts and crafts room, Stiles opened it and gestured for Sven to move inside. "Look, camp? It's as much fun as you let it be." He hobbled over to a cabinet, opening it to reveal coils of plastic lacing. "Maybe you go home and you didn't enjoy any of it, but your dad appreciates that he got to take a vacation and he'll buy you more ice cream for a while. Or maybe you have so much fun that you have a lot of great memories and cool stories to tell when you go back to school. No one really wants to go to school, either, but learning things generally makes you more money so that when you're an adult you can take the kind of vacations that you want to." He measured out lengths of both the sparkly pale pink and the sparkly hot pink lacing and cut them, then gestured to the other options. "Pick two colors."

"Uh, green and blue?" Sven hunched forward in his chair, his feet kicking underneath. "I just don't know why he had to get remarried. Mom wouldn't have if he'd been the one to die."

Mid-cut, Stiles let his eyes close. "My dad didn't get remarried after my mom died. I kind of wish he had, though. I spent a lot of time taking care of him when I should have been worried about a lot of other things." He finished cutting Sven's lacing and grabbed two lanyard hooks, bringing them over to lay on the table in front of Sven. "I know you wish things could go back to how they were, but that's just being mad that things didn't go your way. Give yourself some time with new things to see if they really are bad. Your dad probably got married because he was lonely and found someone who made him happy and is that really something you don't want him to have?" He paused, watching Sven's lower lip tremble. "It gets better. It never stops hurting, but it dulls. Like, uh, my knee!" Stiles gestured to it. "When it first happened? I didn't even feel it. But once I saw it? It hurt a lot. You saw how it made me walk. I could make it, but it was hard. It'll heal up in a few days and it won't really hurt, but a year from now I'm going to look down and see the scar on my knee and remember hurting myself. At the same time, though, it won't be all bad. I'll remember where it happened and that'll make me remember other fun stuff." Stiles picked up one of the lanyard hooks, smiling at it. "Sorry. I talk too much sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Sven rolled his eyes again, but picked up the lanyard clip and the green and blue lengths of plastic lacing. "Dad keeps trying to get me to go talk to people about it. That's how he met Christine. He said... he said that talking helps."

Stiles shrugged. "Talking helps a lot of people. I don't know if it'll help you. But, you know the only way to tell for sure?" He picked up the pale pink plastic lacing and gently rapped it against Sven's wrist. "Try." He threaded the two stands of lacing through the loop of the lanyard hook, waiting for Sven to follow his example. "And, dude, I know I talk a lot? But I'm also pretty happy to listen."

Sven nodded, his lips pulled tight against his teeth. "Okay, you said I should learn to do the spiral? How do I...?"

Smiling, Stiles spread the laces in an X. "Well, you should learn to do the square one first since that's the easy one. So, look here. You're going to cross the greens and then weave the blue ones under them and then pull it tight. And then just do that against and again until you want to finish it and then you can just tuck in the ends." Stiles demonstrated several times, watching Sven copy him until he got it right. "Good. You're doing great on that. Now, for the spiral? You just cross the strands over on a diagonal. It's a little more difficult to get it woven through, but it looks really cool."

"Thanks, Mr. Stiles," Sven said with a shy grin, his fingers carefully working the lacing together.

"Just Stiles. I'm your counselor, but I'm not really a mister? Think of me like an older brother or something. Some revulsion, some respect... And because you haven't scratched since we left the infirmary? You can have a cookie with dinner after all. I was going to withhold it for running off." Stiles continued weaving his lanyard, alternating between the square formation and the spiral one.

Kicking Stiles under the table, Sven smiled. "Stiles is a lame name."

"So's Sven. But, my real name? Even I can barely pronounce it. It doesn't even have any actual vowels." Stiles shrugged. "But, one of the nice things about having a name that no one else does? You don't have to wonder whether someone was talking to you or the other Tyler or have to get called by your last name or where they have to use your middle name."

"I guess you've got a point." Sven stuck his tongue out as he finished up his lanyard, doing his best to tuck the ends in like Stiles had. He pushed it across the table to Stiles. "Here."

Stiles smirked, holding up the sparkly pink one he'd finished. "Do you want this one?"

"Ew, no. That's girly!" Sven's nose wrinkled and he pushed back from the table.

"You know there's a dance at the end of camp, right? There will be girls. Girls who like pink." Stiles shrugged. "I guess I'll just give this one to Nurse Patsy." He suddenly groaned. "Also? I owe you an extra cookie because I had to take your candy. Pretty much all of it had peanuts and we have a really strict no peanut policy. So, if you come back next year? Get the Snickers with almonds. Besides, chocolate doesn't last in this heat."

"It's cool. I really just wanted the Raisinets. I know it's a weird candy to have as my favorite, but I just really like raisins." Sven crossed his arms and leaned them on the table, sighing. "What do we do now?"

Stiles cleared his throat. "We go to the trading post and I buy you a box of Raisinets because one of your other counselors stole yours and I was distracted and didn't even realize that was on the okay list."

Sven rolled his eyes and stood up. "Why is this my life? I put all the other candy in there as decoys so no one would take those." He sighed dramatically, taking big steps across the arts and crafts room.

"Have you ever tried any acting?" Stiles tucked both lanyards in his pocket as he stood up, wincing as he remembered his injured knee once more. "I think maybe you'd be good at it."

"No, I..." Sven brushed some of his hair forward nervously. "I don't know how."

Grinning, Stiles led the way to the trading post. "It's easy. And now I know what to teach you about until dinner. And if you like it? Well, skits usually do pretty well in the talent show."

"Is dinner soon? I'm starving." Sven rubbed his stomach awkwardly.

Stiles raised an eyebrow at him. "You're about to get Raisinets."

"You should get me two boxes, then. One for now and one for later."

Practically feeling the drain in the pocket that held his wallet, Stiles resigned himself to buying four boxes of Raisinets: two for Sven, an extra for Derek, and a box for himself to see what the big deal was about chocolate-covered raisins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys can find me on [tumblr](http://superhappygenki.tumblr.com) if you're interested. (I definitely welcome questions to my askbox about stuff I write.) Comments are amazing, I have no idea where I'm going with most of this fic, and I have no particular update schedule. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

"You were right. The baked beans were absolutely disgusting." Derek walked along beside Stiles at the back of the group, smirking.

Stiles groaned, carefully walking down the slope of the hill so that his knee stayed relatively straight. "I can't believe you even tried them." His eyes opened wide and he dug into one of the cargo pockets of his shorts, pulling out the box of Raisinets for Derek. "Here."

Derek took the box, his brow furrowing. "Why are you giving me candy that you know I already have?"

"Because I have to tell you that Raisinets are in the small group of approved snacks so I shouldn't have taken it from Sven's bag earlier so you shouldn't have gotten them?" Stiles shrugged, licking at his lower lip. "I got two boxes for him."

A smile lighting up his face, Derek opened the box and pulled out a chocolate-covered raisin. "Then I'll make sure to enjoy these. The sugar cookies for dessert were a little... underwhelming. Oh, and I don't know what you did with Sven, but I overheard a couple of the kids expressing a desire to go out of their way to be friends with him and that doesn't usually happen to kids who fight first thing."

Pausing to stretch out his non-injured leg that was taking the brunt of his limping, Stiles shrugged. "We made lanyards and bonded over dead mothers. This time, I guess it was enough. Oh, and candy."

Derek had paused when Stiles did, popping the candy into his mouth and chewing slowly. When he swallowed, he moved to Stiles' side, grabbing Stiles' arm to put around his shoulders. "You did a number on your knee there. Lean on me a little."

Stiles let out a soft chuckle, but did as he was told, smiling as Derek's arm went around his back. "Like this?"

"Yeah." Derek smiled at him softly, his fingers pressing softly into Stiles' side. "What's your favorite kind of candy?"

"Usually anything with peanut butter." Stiles' nose wrinkled at the despairing look Derek gave him. "I know, right? A whole summer where I can only have what I really want when I've got my nights off."

"When... When is your night off?" Derek tilted his box of Raisinets up to his lips, three pieces falling into his open mouth.

Stiles tilted his head. "Um... I traded with Scott this morning so now I've got Monday night off? I did have Saturday, but... I'm mostly just going to go out to eat and maybe hit up a few stores that aren't the trading post so Monday's just as good."

Derek let out a soft burst of laughter. "Okay, good." His fingers pressed a little more firmly against Stiles' side. "I've got Monday, too. You want to show me what there is to do around here?"

"Is that even a question?" Stiles glanced forward to make sure the rest of the campers were far ahead of them, then let his voice drop almost to a whisper. "There's nothing to do around here at all except me."

With a bite to his lower lip, Derek let out a soft groan. "No. As much as that sounds amazing, I need things to go a little slower than that. We've got 10 weeks. Let's make them count."

Stiles blinked a few times. "Oh. Okay." He smirked suddenly, letting his own fingers squeeze Derek's shoulder. "Well, then it's up to you to set the pace. You have my permission to kiss and grope and to ask for further permission as needed." He smiled. "My father's a sheriff. I am well informed about consent."

Derek laughed, turning his head to bury his face briefly against Stiles' neck to muffle some of the sound. "You're amazing, Stiles. Honestly amazing."

His stomach churning with the sudden feel of Derek's breath along his throat, Stiles inhaled sharply. "You're pretty amazing yourself, big guy." He waited for Derek to straighten up before he spoke again. "So, um, tell me stuff about you?" 

"There's not much to tell. I went to school, then went to college, and then... That's not true." He licked his lips, his slow pace slowing even more for a moment. "You and Sven aren't the only ones with dead parents. But that happened during school and then my sister and I moved across the country for a while and I went to college there, and then we moved back and I did the survival camp thing for a few years."

Stiles wanted to ask more questions, but that was nothing new. He always wanted to know more. Instead, though, he let the hand on Derek's shoulder moved up to card through the hair at the nape of his neck. "Well, aren't we just a bunch of Disney princesses?" 

Derek tossed back a few more Raisinets, chewing quickly. "You're really easy to talk to." 

"And you're not?" Stiles' fingers paused in Derek's hair. "Oh, and there's the path to Make Out Point to the right." 

"Most people are a little intimidated by me." Derek took a deep breath. "Aren't you?"

Stiles shook his head. "No. I mean, I can see why because you look like you could go toe to toe with a wolf and come out of it unscathed, but you're hot and then it turns out you're kind of sweet and dorky beneath the many, many layers of muscles... I knew you were hot when I first saw you, but now I know you're kind of my type." He cleared his throat. "I have kind of a long history of not being scared off easily."

Derek was quiet for most of the rest of the walk back to the camp, pausing just before the break in the treeline that ringed the campsite to pull Stiles against him and press an almost infuriatingly soft kiss against his lips. "Thank you."

Reaching up to touch his lips with two fingers, Stiles smiled. "You taste like chocolate."

"You should probably skip out on the activities tonight. Isaac and Scott will be there with me to teach everyone all of the camp songs. You should rest that leg." Derek slowly backed away from Stiles, holding himself tall. "I should go help them."

"Yeah..." Stiles nodded, finally letting his fingers drop. "I guess just have someone duck their head back in to get me when it's time to get everyone to bed. Trust me, it will take all four of us to do that the first night."

Nodding, Derek leaned one hand against a tree. "You got it." He took two steps forward, then added over his shoulder, "Rest."

Stiles grinned. "Got it." He walked slowly toward the counselor's tent, sitting down on his bed with a sigh. He leaned down to pull out the box he'd put Sven's contraband candy into, pulling out the Reese's. Just before he could tear open the package, he paused and dropped it back in, going digging in his cargo pocket for the box of Raisinets he'd gotten for himself. Opening it, he pulled out one chocolate-covered raisin and popped it in his mouth, a smile crossing his face as he chewed. He certainly didn't like them better than Reese's, but it was far better than nothing at all. That's what summers were about, right? Summers were ephemeral and full of things that ended, so you took as much enjoyment as you could out of everything.

Finishing off his candy, Stiles rummaged in his bags for his pajamas and decided to go ahead and take his shower so he could skip it in the morning and help out extra to make up for having the free time now. Dragging along his toiletry kit, he walked along the trail to the bathing area, a building only in the barest of terms as it was mostly concrete blocks and a cement floor. Still, he had it to himself right now so he could take his time with his shower instead of limiting himself to five minutes so everyone could have some hot water. And if he used some of that time to lean against the wall and take himself in hand and think of Derek, well, that was just because he wasn't really going to have a chance for a while.

He brushed his teeth at the sink, trying to enjoy what would probably be the only time at camp that he wasn't in danger of getting an elbow to the kidneys during it, and went back to his tent and curled up in his bed. He had things he could do, but pretty much everything was significantly better with multiple people. He nuzzled into his pillow and closed his eyes, marveling at how loud nature could be. Still, there was a steady rhythm to it that was calming. The sun wasn't even quite down when he fell asleep.

"Hey, Stiles!" Stiles opened his eyes to see Isaac waving at him. "We're trying to get everyone bunked down for the night."

Grimacing at the taste in his mouth because his tongue was convinced he'd been breathing in insects, Stiles sat up and got moving, already noticing a slight improvement in his leg. "Who do I have?"

Isaac glanced across the fronts of the other tents. "Uh... I don't know. Three and four?"

"Sure, man." Stiles shoved his feet in flip flops and walked over to tent three. "Okay, guys. Here's the rules! You're in a tent, so you can't exactly have a lights out. You can stay up talking for another few minutes, but then you need to get some sleep. We're getting up really early tomorrow and you won't be allowed to sleep in. If anyone in this or another tent is bothering you, you can let any of the counselors know. If other people complain about you? You don't get to go swimming tomorrow. Any questions?"

One camper raised his hand even though Stiles couldn't see him enough in the darkness to count. "What if I have to pee?"

Looking over at where the bathrooms were and how there wasn't exactly a well-lit path, Stiles groaned. "Just... go behind the tent? It's dark. No one can see you. Any other questions?" When no one else said anything, Stiles nodded and moved along, giving the same speech to the next tent, but also answering questions about how wolves were not native to California and that breakfast was more likely to involve cereal than anything else. With those two tents taken care of, he took a moment to go find Sven in tent two. "Hey, Sven, you got your bag back, right?"

"Huh? Yeah." He waved his hand from his bed. "Scott got it for me when I came back from getting more calamine lotion."

"Good! And, uh, good night guys." Stiles let the tent flap fall and headed back to the counselor's tent, his other concern answered. When he sat back down on his bed, he looked over at Isaac and furrowed his brow. "Why didn't you wake me sooner? That was the easy part. It's getting them all to brush their teeth that's the madhouse."

Isaac pursed his lips for a moment. "Well, Derek came in to wake you up, but then you didn't come out with him, so we thought you just fell back asleep."

"I am hurt." Stiles shook his head and kicked off his flip flops, sliding them back under his bed. "Then again, maybe I'm a beautiful sleeper and he was mesmerized by me and couldn't bear to wake me."

Suddenly, Derek came through the flap in tent, looking between Isaac and Stiles. "Actually, I think you were just snoring loudly enough that you couldn't hear me. That's good, though. It should help frighten some of the wildlife away." He moved out of the way for Scott to come through behind him.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "Ha ha. So sorry that the summer air is already playing havoc with my delicate nasal passages. Wait until Scotty-boy gets his first summer cold and you'll be begging to hear the noises I make in bed." 

Derek cleared his throat. "Does anyone have an alarm clock?"

Isaac pointed to a metal one sitting by the leg of his bed. "Already set for five-thirty."

Scott's smile glinted in the moonlight filtering into their tent. "Allison's camp has flag duty tomorrow."

"Ours is Tuesday, right?" Stiles pulled his sheet over his feet.

"Yeah. At least we don't have a campsite bugler this year. Of all of the things to give someone money to do at camp? Blowing your own horn is lame." Scott lay down so that his chest was against his pillow. "I can't wait for the day after tomorrow."

Stiles grinned. "Because that's when archery is?"

Scott laughed at himself softly, easing down until his head was nestled in his pillow. "Let's have the best summer, guys. All of us."

"Yeah." Derek spoke softly, but words carried in the tent.

Stiles fell asleep shortly thereafter, smiling at the husky tone in Derek's voice and the soft breeze that seemed to slip inside the tent and caress his skin until he was cool enough to actually bother with the sheet on his bed at all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer than I thought because I had to stop to write several one-shots instead. Oops?

Breakfast had been hell, but Stiles could tell that swimming was going to be worse. He was about to have to hang out by the pool with his stupid knee injury while watching Derek in the water. With it sluicing off of him. And the droplets catching in the sunlight when he tossed his hair back. And, okay, maybe he was putting a porno spin on the images in his head, but it was kind of expected.

After all, when the alarm had gone off that morning, Derek had ripped off his shirt and started doing push-ups after turning on some lantern that Stiles hadn't noticed until then and just, wow. He'd followed push-ups with crunches and then turned off the lantern and headed out of the tent with a grumbling Isaac in order to go shower. Stiles had just been glad that the sun wasn't up yet and it was dark again. Morning wood wasn't anything he couldn't fall back to sleep with. But, a raging boner that seemed to drain all of the blood from the rest of his body? Yeah. He hadn't gone back to sleep so much as pulled himself to the world's quietest orgasm, licking his fingers afterward to hide the evidence and then burying his face in his pillow out of shame. Scott had walked out toward the bathroom when Stiles was on pull four, at least, so there was that.

They'd gotten the kids up and moving after all of the counselors had gotten ready because, really, that was the only way it worked. Four guys each trying to motivate eight pre-teen boys took a lot of effort, but then there was breakfast to contend with. Stiles had been wrong about cereal being the meal and had instead gotten to indulge in some kind of pig-in-a-blanket thing that was a large sausage on a stick with pancake surrounding it. Still, watching Derek dip it in syrup and bring it up to his mouth? Kind of amazing as a torture method.

It was hard dealing with the kids, though rewarding, but Derek made things needlessly complicated. Granted, it was only for Stiles, and only because every time he saw the guy flex a muscle or raise an eyebrow or console a kid through missing his parents, he found himself turning into an idiot. Or maybe just more of an idiot than normal. And now he was going to be an idiot watching Derek in the pool.

Only, in the end, Derek somehow got voted as lifeguard while Isaac and Scott got to pile into the pool while putting the kids through their paces to see how far they were each allowed to swim. There were two guys who got orange braided bracelets that said they were basically only allowed in as far as they could walk, ten or so who got green bracelets saying they could swim up to where the rope was, and everyone else had the purple bracelets saying they had free reign in the pool. It was while one of the kids was loudly complaining about the color purple being a girl color that Stiles steeled his nerve to walk over to where Derek had climbed up into the lifeguard seat. "So, um, not going in at all?" He winced at the question he was asking.

Derek glanced down at him and grinned. "Hopefully not? That's usually a bad thing for a lifeguard. And please don't fall in and start to drown just for my sake."

"Hopefully you'll kiss me again before I have to resort to CPR, then." Stiles clenched his mouth shut, trying not to blush. "Um, so, yeah. Forget I said that."

"No." Derek's voice is low, but just loud enough for Stiles to hear. "I mean, you can wait until Monday, right?"

"But it's Friday!" Stiles laughed at himself, covering his face with one hand. "Ugh. I _can_ wait. I don't want to, but any relationship is between two people and what they're comfortable with and if Monday makes you comfortable? Then I will indulge myself in trying to get all of my stupid out before then so that I can just relax and enjoy things even if you're saying Monday now but you change your mind later and why am I still talking?"

Derek reached down and let his fingers trail over Stiles' shoulder. "It's not you, you know. It's not even that some kid could catch us. I just... My last relationship was a horrible one that left all kinds of doubts in my head. Going slow is my way of thinking things through to protect myself."

"That's cool!" Stiles reached up to grip Derek's hand for a moment before letting it go. "I'm not trying to rush you or anything except that I see you and you just keep making me more and more interested and I've always been that kid who shook his presents, you know? I get intrigued and I want to know everything and right now I'm intrigued by you. And maybe you're also kind of excessively hot so that you kind of short circuit my brain."

Smirking, Derek sat back in the lifeguard chair, looking out over the kids. "Does that mean you want to show me Make Out Point tonight? You showed me the path, but I don't want to get lost."

"Yes, please?" Stiles grinned. "And now I should probably leave you to this so that you actually can spot if someone needs help. I'll be down by the end yelling at the kids with orange to stay close to me."

"How's the knee, by the way?" Derek cocked one eyebrow upward.

Stiles grinned. "It's not great, but I'll live. I guess I can call it better, at least, since I'm not really limping anymore. You... Talking to you. It makes it better, I think."

"Good." Derek let his fingers trace over one of the armrests of the chair. "Talking to you... I think it makes things better, too."

"That's my job," Stiles said, giving Derek a little salute. "Here in a little while, let's do lunch? It's sloppy joes today."

Derek's smile dropped as he said in a deadpan voice, "My kingdom for a pizza."

"Monday. We'll get pizza on Monday." Stiles grinned. The sloppy joes weren't necessarily bad, but there was a lot of the food at camp that wasn't exactly anything special. What there was, though, was a gourmet pizza place in town that Stiles liked to hit up when he could anyway. 

"Okay." Derek smiled again and Stiles returned it before forcing himself to turn around and walk toward the other end of the pool. 

Lunch had them sitting at opposite ends of the table, but Stiles still found time to look at Derek, smirking at the way Derek's nose wrinkled up when he laughed after taking a huge bite of sloppy joe and then promptly having his own drip sauce onto his shirt. 

Scott joined Stiles after lunch and they went to the arts and crafts room to get the box set aside for the treasure hunt. The prize was a $20 credit to the camp store, but the kids always seemed to really try for it. Stiles had been working for long enough now that he couldn't quite remember what it was like for $20 to seem like a lot of money, but it worked as a prize.

They set up the treasure hunt in the woods nearest their camp and then made their way to the camp proper to let Derek and Isaac know who were supposed to take the kids around the long way. "How are things with Allison?" Stiles started the conversation, knowing that Scott wanted someone to talk to about her even if Stiles didn't care so much about that as he did his own potentially budding relationship.

"I don't know, dude. I mean, she's awesome. Amazing! But there's all the other guy counselors and I just... You don't think she'd hook up with any of them, do you?" Scott sighed as he ducked under a branch.

Stiles snorted. "Uh, let's see. Douchebag Jackson and Lydia have already gotten back together, rumor has it that Boyd has a thing for Erica, Danny is gay and would never date anyone with more impressive dimples than he has anyway, and Matt? Ugh. If she'd date Matt, you don't want her anyway."

Scott nodded slowly. "Hey, how come you're into Derek when you already know Danny?"

"Whoa!" Holding his hands up in defense, Stiles' eyes widened. "Just because Danny is gay doesn't mean he's interested in anyone who'd have him. Besides, he's actually friends with Jackson which is like five marks in his negative column. And Derek... Just, wow. I mean, really. Wow." Stiles covered his face with his hands for a moment, groaning. "He and I are going out Monday. But we're going to Make Out Point tonight? And it's probably just to talk, but I feel like I could just talk to him for hours."

"Allison's going out with me tomorrow. Do you think she'd want to go to that French place?" Scott leaned down to pick up a leaf, tearing it apart as they walked along.

Stiles snorted. "You mean the place with the dress code? Uh, no. Dude, I'm taking Derek to Pizza Pie in the Sky. That's about as upscale as I'm comfortable with in cargo shorts."

"Do you think she likes pizza?" Scott dusted the last bits of leaf off of his hands.

"I think that if she doesn't, she's a Communist who isn't to be trusted." Stiles grinned and nudged Scott's elbow. "Just make sure you don't close the place down or else I'll be stuck on a date at Subway."

Scott grinned widely. "You sure you don't want to just go ahead and show Derek how much you can fit in your mouth?"

Stiles' mouth dropped open. "Scott! What? No." He grinned. "If he's lucky, he'll find out anyway."

Punching Stiles' shoulder, Scott led the way toward the tents and got them all started on leading the treasure hunt. For the counselors, it mostly meant wandering the edges of the playing area to make sure no one snuck past or accidentally went too far, and then gathering everyone back together once someone had found the treasure. It ended up being James, the camper that Sven had been wrestling with the day before, and Stiles grinned when he got to see Sven going up and congratulating him. 

Stiles took Sven down to the infirmary to get his calamine lotion, and gave Nurse Patsy her new lanyard before talking to her about whether he should even attempt the boating the next day with his knee like it was. She shoved him into a chair and looked his wound over. "I wouldn't recommend the paddleboats, but you should be fine in a canoe."

Dinner was turkey and cheese sandwiches that Stiles promptly smothered with mustard before having to pass it down the table to Derek who seemed to decide to follow in his footsteps. After dinner, they moved back to their camp area and started talking about the talent show. Scott set them up to say what their talent was, and Stiles laughed when Sven said loudly, "Stiles said I'm really good at rolling my eyes."

"I said you're a pretty good actor, you reprobate." Stiles couldn't keep the smile off of his face, though. Sure, Derek was distracting as all get out when they weren't really doing anything, but it was also easy to get caught up in the lives of these kids, feeling like he might actually be having some kind of impact there. It was nice.

It was only after they'd delivered their nightly speech to the various tents that Stiles let himself skip up to Derek. "So, um, Make Out Point."

Derek grinned and stepped into the tent, returning a moment later with the lantern from that morning. "I don't want to take a chance of joining you in needing medical attention from from walking."

"That's a low blow, man." Stiles let his fingers slide into his pockets as Derek lit the lantern and led the way. "So, uh, other than seeing this place, what do you want to do tonight?"

A soft huff of breath came from between Derek's lips. "We'll see when we get there. Mouths will be involved somehow, I'm sure."

Stiles cleared his throat. "Well, that opens up lots of options. Talking. CPR practice. Consumption of food. Testing each other out on whether we can roll our tongues. Practicing sucking the poison out of a snake bite."

"You don't actually do that, you know." Derek smirked. "If you're bitten by a snake, you try to clean the wound and immobilize it somewhere below your heart."

With a loud sigh, Stiles hopped over a tree root. "I knew I should never take medical advice from a movie called 'Snakes On A Plane'."

"Probably not." Derek carefully climbed over a rough section of ground. "Now, you said Make Out Point's up here?"

Stiles pointed to the path in the distance, heading toward it. "Yup. And since it's only the second day of camp, it's unlikely that anyone's up here yet. And if they are? We get to run them off. It's awesome."

Derek grinned and began climbing the trail. "I want to tell you about that last relationship of mine a little more. I keep not talking about it to anyone and I'm starting to think that's a horrible idea."

"Y-yeah. Sure." Stiles licked his lips and walked beside Derek, trying to see the expression on his face. "Was it a guy or...?"

"Girl." Derek's jaw tensed. "Kate. I actually learned a lot from her because I met her at summer camp years ago and fell hard. She was the one to get me interested in survival skills, but then she asked me to join her for a week out in the mountains and shot me in the shoulder and left me for dead at the end to 'test' me."

Stiles paused on the trail, his bottom lip twitching as he tried to figure out something to say. "You... I mean... Look, like I said before? My dad's a sheriff. I might bend laws a little sometimes, but I don't break them. And I don't even have a gun, so-"

"I don't think you're going to shoot me, Stiles. And I really question how little you must think of my brain to assume I'd come out here with someone who might shoot me." Derek let his arm sling around Stiles' shoulders. "Besides, I lived through it once so I think I could probably live through it again."

Letting out an awkward laugh, Stiles reached up to run a hand through his hair. "That's... Wow, man. But, seriously? I can see why you'd have issues. It feels like there's more to it than that, but I can at least promise you that any and all tests that I would have for you are ones that you have already passed."

Derek paused as they reached the end of the trail where there was an overlook lined with smooth rocks at a comfortable height for sitting. "There's a big part of me that's still hurting, Stiles. I fell hard for someone and trusted them completely and they didn't deserve it. I don't know yet that you do. But, you're right about summer crushes. What we have here? It can stay here if it needs to."

Stiles licked his lips again and pulled Derek over to sit on one of the rocks. "Does that mean that it doesn't need to stay here?"

Lifting one hand to cup Stiles' jaw, Derek shrugged. "I don't know. I think ten weeks is enough time to find out, though. Camp... It's supposed to be a safe place. I'm just trying to make sure that it's safe for both of us."

"Then, try me." Stiles shrugged, taking the lantern from Derek and sitting it on the rock behind them. "You can always tell me no or ask me to leave you alone or whatever you need."

Derek looked at him for a moment, long enough that Stiles started to open his mouth again, only to feel Derek's lips brush his that same maddening soft way they had the previous day. "Let's have fun," Derek said, not quite smiling. "I don't want to go too crazy just yet, but I want to remember what it's like to just enjoy myself for no good reason."

Stiles bit his bottom lip and let his own hands grip Derek's waist. "You can try kissing a little harder than that."

"You're right," Derek whispered. "I can." His next attempt was nearly bruising, his teeth just grazing Stiles' lower lip as he tilted his head and worked his lips against Stiles'.

For his part, Stiles mostly went with gasping and digging his fingers into Derek's shirt before reminding himself that kissing was one of those things where it was never fun for one person to do all of the work. He caught Derek's tongue as it slipped into his mouth, gently sucking on it before tracing against it with his own. He wasn't sure how long they stayed there practically joined at the mouth, but when Derek finally pulled away out of breath and wiping at his lips and grinning the goofiest grin even, Stiles felt his heart swell. "Good?"

Derek inhaled sharply, still grinning. "Yeah, good. I'd love to do more, but we should probably get back, huh?"

Stiles let out a soft groan. "Probably? But, I want to put my protests on record. That was good enough that I never actually want to stop kissing you. I am slightly offended that I'm having to. Not by you, of course, just with circumstances."

"Circumstances are a bitch," Derek agreed. "But they also put us in the position to even do that much, so I can't say I've got too many hard feelings." He cleared his throat. "One hard feeling in particular."

Laughing, Stiles leaned forward to press one more soft kiss against Derek's lips. "Come on. We're going boating tomorrow and I intend to show you how well I can paddle."

Derek raised one eyebrow. "Promise?"

Stiles groaned to start another peal of laughter. "You're horrible. I love it." He stood up and held his hand out to Derek. "Come on. Back to camp."

Taking his hand, Derek stood up and grabbed his lantern, then pulled Stiles along with him. They held hands the whole way back into the tent and Stiles snuck one more kiss before climbing into bed, holding one finger over his mouth to tell Derek to be quiet. Derek copied the gesture and smiled before settling his head against his own pillow, making Stiles grin as his own eyes closed, quickly drifting off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

"Campers, it's important to make sure that your life vest is on the right way so the other counselors and I are going to come around to make sure you're good and we're going to pair you off with buddies. Whatever you do, you do with a buddy!" Stiles looked over at his campers as he spoke, projecting out to make sure they could all hear him. "Any questions?"

One of the younger boys standing toward the front of the group raised his hand. "Who's your buddy?"

Stiles froze for a moment, trying to remember the kid's name. "Well, Sam, I'm a counselor so I don't need a buddy."

There were general groans from the group as well as one kid shouting out, "If you don't have a buddy, I'm not going to have a buddy."

Shutting his eyes so that his eye roll wasn't as obvious, Stiles pointed to Derek. "So, Derek will be my buddy and Scott will be Isaac's buddy and you're all going to pay attention now or we can go glue macaroni on construction paper." He decided then and there, at the looks the kids gave him, that he'd definitely skip that part of arts and crafts that evening. Then again, it was probably time to teach the kids about making lanyards and to let Sven and some of the returning campers shine a little. 

Once everyone was wearing life jackets and they'd been checked, they started letting the kids load into paddleboats and canoes and molded plastic "Funyaks" with explicit instructions on how to use each of them that was sure to be ignored. If nothing else, at least one canoe was going to tip over. With that in mind, Stiles walked over next to Derek and grinned. "Hey, wanna grab the last canoe with me and head to the center of the pond? I think Mike and Paul are probably going to end up in the water since they're refusing to even try to paddle together."

Derek snorted softly, then led the way. "So, we should probably actually talk a little about arts and crafts tonight. Isn't it strange that we're at the same camp site instead of having one per site for the guys?"

Stiles shrugged as he adjusted his life jacket and carefully moved into the canoe. "My place is not to question." He smirked. "Actually, Danny's pretty good at that kind of stuff? Everyone's a little multi-purpose around here. The only time most of us really focus on our specialties is on Tuesday."

"That's free day for everyone, right?" Derek stepped into the canoe and sat down carefully behind Stiles. 

Dipping his paddle into the water, Stiles started to push it through the water. "Yup. That'll be a fun day. We'll be fresh off of our date and then get to have flag duty, a day of having everyone skip over us over in favor of going swimming again, then the dance, and the bonfire."

Derek's own paddle slid through the water, helping to move them across the pond. "Maybe we should just stay up all night, then. If not one shows up during free time, we can take turns taking naps."

With a groan, Stiles reached down into the water to palm a handful, tossing it back at Derek who laughed as it hit him. "Don't make that sound so good," Stiles said, pouting. "We're supposed to be upstanding citizens and role models."

"Yeah," Derek agreed. "In front of the kids."

Biting at a piece of dead skin on his lower lip, Stiles turned his head to look at Derek. "You do realize that you're kind of giving me all kinds of mixed signals, right? Not that I mind because, hey, any signal at all from you is kind of good, but... I guess I'm not sure you actually know what you want out of me yet?"

Derek's brows furrowed and he cleared his throat. "I don't want anything _out_ of you. I... I want to explore whatever this is that I do feel for you, but my mouth can't seem to get it together with my brain. I'm sorry?"

Stiles grinned. "Apology accepted, but only because generally my brain and my mouth work kind of independently of one another and I find myself saying things I don't remember even thinking. So, yeah. But, basically, it's the part where you talked about wanting to do stuff slow but then there was making out and now talk about staying up all night together and while I'm cool with all of that, I want to make sure that you're not going to regret saying those things but still do them out of some sense of obligation or something, I guess?"

Pausing in rowing, Derek reached up to scrub his hand over his face. "You kind of drive me crazy. In a good way. I'm trying to hold myself back because I know I should, but I think it's like how it's difficult to just look at a box of chocolates you know you can just take from. You tell yourself you can have one, just one, and you think that's enough. Just a taste. But once it's there on your tongue, you know how good that one kind is but there's other kinds on offer too and you wonder if they'll be just as good or maybe better. And I... I don't want to eat the whole damn box at once, but I can't help but want to just keep the flavor on my tongue."

"That... was kind of hot." Stiles smiled broadly. "But, your metaphor has a flaw. Because, you see, you wouldn't be eating the whole box by yourself. You'd be sharing it with me."

Derek dropped his paddle. He leaned over to try to grab it from the water and Stiles found himself tilting with him until the boat spilled them over the side. Derek started laughing, leaning back into the embrace of his life jacket. "I did not mean for that to happen."

Stiles joined him in laughing, glancing around at the campers who were suddenly laughing and their canoe that was upside side beside them. "Okay. We're close enough to shore that I'd normally swim back, but do you feel like showing off and getting back in this thing?"

"I guess it's the least I can do after getting you all wet." Derek wiped some of the water off of his face and grabbed the two paddles floating in the water with them. "Let's do this." He raised his eyebrows before ducking his head under the water.

Stiles grinned and took a deep breath, holding it as he joined Derek in popping up under the capsized canoe and pushing up as hard as he could to lift one edge of the boat up until it flipped back over. Coughing as water flew into his mouth, Stiles swam around to the far side of the boat. "Okay. You're stronger, so you get in first." He held onto the side of the boat as close to the center as he could and pulled down as Derek dragged himself into the boat, then leaned back as Stiles pulled himself up. 

"So much easier with two people in a lake," Derek said as he carefully positioned himself and grabbed one of the paddles that he'd tucked into the side of the boat as it turned over.

Ending up in back this time, Stiles took the other paddle. "I'm glad I'm not the only one of us who's clumsy sometimes."

Ducking his head slightly, Derek lowered his paddle into the water. "Shut up. I'm embarrassed."

"It's cute, though. You can be the handsome prince who's good on land and I'll be the little mermaid." Stiles rowed along with Derek, shaking his head to try to get the water out of his hair and off of his face.

"Didn't you say we were both Disney princesses, though?" Derek looked back and lifted his eyebrows while smirking.

Stiles nodded solemnly. "Pocahontas, then. Totally good with the wildlife or something. I expect you to have a pet raccoon by the end of camp."

"Can't I have a pet Stiles instead?" Derek cleared his throat. "That's going too far again, isn't it?"

Shrugging, Stiles continued to help propel them slowly through the water. "Hey, that part's up to you. This box of chocolates will take as long to get through as you want." He stuck out his tongue even though Derek couldn't see it. "Seriously, though, your pace, big guy. No rush, no pressure, no obligations."

Grunting, Derek paddled backward, making them turn toward where one of the paddleboats had gotten stuck against the far shore. "Thanks. Just... know that I want everything you're offering?"

"That's good enough for me." Stiles smiled serenely and put his back into paddling.

Later, after lunch when Stiles and Derek's clothes were finally something resembling dry, they gathered the kids up and headed toward the archery field. Scott led the group, whistling a song off-key. Archery was one of the few areas where someone "skilled" was actually supposed to be stationed any time a group was going to be there, which meant Allison. Scott would be stuck with the horses for the next three days, as it was. Stiles wondered, not for the first time, why they needed two people for arts & crafts when it wasn't exactly an area of super-interest for most of the kids. Still, he didn't run the camp. He just knew where the art supplies were kept. 

Allison was cute, really. Tall, lithe, and possessing both the dark curly hair and dimples that Scott had mentioned all too often in just the few days of camp so far, she didn't exactly seem like the type of person to be that into archery. Yet, after watching her shoot a few arrows into the target at the end of the range, Stiles had to admit that Scott hadn't oversold her on that front. "Okay, kids, all of us are going to be walking along and helping you learn to do basic archery. Most of us know a little about what we're doing, but you guys just got to see how good Allison is so if she says to do something, do it!" Stiles fell back with the others, distributing equipment and demonstrating how to pull back on the strings as Allison went person by person to further explain things. They were almost done with the lesson when Scott and Isaac started arguing over something, making Stiles dash over to them with a frown."What the hell, guys?"

Isaac's mouth was shut tightly as he glared at Scott. Scott glared right back, his voice tight as he spoke. "Isaac's going on a date with Allison on Wednesday after all of the kids go home."

Groaning, Stiles reached out to pinch both of their arms, delighting in the yelps of pain they gave him. "You have both known her for literally half of a week. You don't get to pull possessive shit when she obviously agreed to dates with each of you. If you have a problem with it? Work it out when there aren't three dozen kids in our care who are currently armed and potentially a danger to themselves and others." He pointed to the far end of the range. "Scott, go take that end. Isaac? Stay over here. Both of you calm down or so help me I will get her to cancel on both of you."

Scott's eyes were wide as he looked at Stiles, but he still walked away, stomping a bit. Isaac kicked at the grass as he moved toward Thomas standing at the end of the row and looking like he wasn't even sure which end of the range the targets were on. Running a hand through his hair, Stiles moved back toward the middle of the range and helped Sven learn how to aim, smiling and patting his shoulder when his second shot actually hit the target, even if it was just barely. 

When the lesson finished and several of the kids started to complain about their shoulders hurting, Stiles herded them together and set off toward dinner, nodding as he noticed Scott directing Sven toward the infirmary for his latest dose of calamine lotion, knowing that he'd be taking off for the night after that. Derek joined Stiles at the front of the group, speaking low as he glanced back over his shoulder. "You're kind of a natural leader, aren't you?"

There was a rush of pride that welled up in Stiles at the statement, but he shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I'm a talker. And I get in the middle of everything. It works a lot better when it's stuff I'm allowed to talk about and get in the middle of."

"You still did a good job." Derek smiled, lifting his hand so that his knuckles just brushed against the back of Stiles' arm. "What are we teaching tonight? We never decided."

Stiles shivered at the feel of Derek's skin against his. "Well, the kids always seem to like it best when there's something they can carry around with them after camp, so lanyards are pretty popular. I tend to mention that they actually make pretty good things to give the girls they want to go with them to the dance later on."

"Would you go to the dance with me if I gave you a lanyard?" Derek laughed softly at his own words, looking back again at the kids behind them.

With one sharp nod, Stiles said emphatically, "Yes." He snorted. "Y'know, if we weren't chaperones and all of that. I'm a sucker for when people make things for me. All gifts are good gifts, don't get me wrong, but there's something about a thing that someone has to put time and effort and thought into that really makes me smile."

Derek nudged him with his elbow. "What are your two favorite colors, then?"

"Hmm... See, that's tough. Because, knowing that they're going to be in a lanyard? I don't really want to say my favorite color, red, because I think I'd rather have black and yellow because of Batman." Stiles shrugged. "I apologize if you're a Marvel guy, but I understand that it's impossible to be perfect."

"I actually haven't seen any of the Batman movies since the one that had Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman." Derek's eyes went wide at the look Stiles gave him at those words. "What? I'm just not much into the superhero thing. Spies are more to my liking."

Stiles' head rolled back like he'd been punched. "Batman is the world's greatest detective! He's the only member of the Justice League who has a file on how to take everyone else down just in case they stop doing, y'know, justice." He pulled his hands from his pockets to do a quick karate chop move in the air, laughing at himself afterward. "Seriously, though, the new trilogy is worth watching. Just, don't bother with the movies in between. Bat nipples are never a good look."

"I'll keep that in mind." Derek led them up the stairs to the mess hall and into the building. 

After dinner, Stiles managed to get everyone into the arts & crafts room, even if it was a bit like pulling teeth. He and Derek cut lengths of plastic lacing for everyone while Isaac handed out the metal lanyard hooks. It didn't take long before they'd discovered who actually knew what they were doing and got all of the other kids to focus on them to see what to do as the counselors walked around, answering questions and correcting problems that they saw. Stiles was glad to see that Sven was enjoying himself in describing how he was making his "cool spiral" and that other kids were actually paying attention. It was the kind of thing that had made camp enjoyable for him when he was young.

The three of them got the kids back to camp and settled enough for the night that they could get ready for bed. After brushing their teeth, Derek and Stiles started to head back to the counselor's tent, only for Derek to pull Stiles off of the path and behind a tree, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. Stiles ran his fingers through the stubble that edged Derek's jaw and met his lips again in full, only pulling away when he could taste the other man's toothpaste more strongly than his own. "Horses tomorrow," he said casually. "You ready?"

Derek licked his lips and stepped back onto the worn path, Stiles following. "Sure. I've heard horror stories from friends who were in marching band during parades, but I think I can manage."

Stiles smirked. "Just stay on your horse and you won't have to watch where you step. And, don't let Scott talk you into riding Lady. She bites."

"I'll try to remember that in the morning," Derek said, yawning through the words. "Mmm, bed. Morning comes too soon here."

"Shh. If it knows we're talking about it, it might come closer." Stiles winked and led the way into the tent, glad to see that Isaac was already asleep and Scott wasn't back yet so he wouldn't have to discuss the Allison issue with anyone. "Night, Derek," he said softly as he climbed under the sheets.

Derek waved a hand at him as he climbed into his own bed. "Night." 

Yawning, Stiles kicked the sheets off of his feet and then immediately pulled them back on as a wisp of breeze slid through the tent. He pictured Derek on horseback and grinned, sure that the next day would bring with it at least one more memory to keep with him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I said I was probably going to update this twice a week or so, I neglected to realize how many other ideas I was going to get that wouldn't want to wait to be written. And also didn't realize that I was going to sign up for [Mating Games](http://mating-games.livejournal.com). But, as evidenced here? I am still working on this thing and I definitely intend to finish this fic soonish.

"It's not funny," Derek insisted, rubbing at his hip as they walked toward the infirmary. "You're the one who told me the stupid horse bites. How was I supposed to know she'd want to lick me instead?"

Stiles bit down on his lip to keep from laughing. "Well, if I didn't know you were sweet before, now I'm sure of it. Now, come on. Lean on me more. I know that has to hurt."

Sven piped up from behind them, "Why do you get paid to hurt yourselves?"

Derek groaned, but did lean more on Stiles as he limped along the path. "Says the boy who got poison oak on his first day here."

Letting out a laugh finally, Stiles let his arm wrap around Derek's waist. "Hey, being an adult doesn't mean you can't be clumsy or afraid of horses."

"I wasn't afraid," Derek hissed out. "I was attempting to avoid injury which was why I got off of my horse in the first place. I think I'd rather have gotten bitten because the glancing kick to the side isn't exactly making this the best summer ever."

Stiles snorted. "You're not even bleeding. You'll have a horrible bruise to show off to the next batch of kids, but I think you're going to be fine." He glanced back at Sven. "And, you. How's the itching?"

Sven shrugged. "It's mostly gone? It felt better after swimming."

"Well, we're going swimming again later today, too, so you're in luck there." Stiles let himself really look at Derek's face for a moment. "Seriously, on a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain?"

Inhaling deeply through his nose, Derek's head tilted as he considered the question. "Six?" He let out his breath in a huff. "It was an eight so there's been an improvement, at least."

Hissing in sympathy, Stiles moved over slightly in the path so that Dere wouldn't get hit by a low hanging branch. "I was going to hope that you just don't have a very high tolerance for pain, but then I remembered your, uh, survival thing. So, I think I'm going to suggest to the nurse that you go to the hospital for a real check-up."

Derek grumbled, but didn't speak for a moment. "I'll be fine," he finally said through clenched teeth.

Sven snorted. "You look like you're gonna pass out."

Stiles's eyes narrowed in concern. "You're not, are you? I mean, I can probably hold you up if I need to, but a sudden drop of all of your weight onto me? You'd be a goner, dude." He turned to look at Sven. "Hey, Sven? Run ahead to the infirmary and tell Nurse Patsy to get things prepped to take Derek to the hospital."

His eyes widening, Sven nodded and darted off ahead of them. Derek groaned. "I'm not going to die from this, Stiles."

"See, you say that... but you totally could. A broken rib stabs through your lungs or something. You could have internal injuries that don't get noticed until you're septic or something. You have taught first aid before, big guy! Or, at least, I hope that was part of your survival class things. You've gotta know this."

"Okay, yeah." Derek gripped Stiles' shoulder and stopped. "Hey, just hold up here for a second. Okay?"

Stiles nodded, burrowing further under the arm on Derek's good side to help hold him upright. "Yeah. We're almost there, another 100 yards or so. We can see it in the distance." He licked his lips, not liking how on edge he felt. "I know you can't promise to be okay or anything, but please try your hardest? I know I'm a klutz and stuff and you probably worried about me, but you could actually be out of commission for a little while and... I would be very sad to be without your company."

Derek grinned, his fingers digging gently into Stiles' shoulder. "We have a date tomorrow. Do you think I'm going to let anything stop me from being there with you? I'll admit I was hoping to be in peak physical condition for it, but we'll work something out."

Smiling, Stiles caught Derek's eye. "Ready to keep moving?"

With a quick nod, Derek stepped forward and allowed Stiles to help him cover the rest of the distance to the infirmary. Nurse Patsy was waiting at the door with Sven. "Hey, honey, heard you got kicked by a horse."

Stiles was the one to actually respond. "Yeah. It wasn't dead on, but he should really see a doctor. You'll take care of him, won't you, Patsy?"

She frowned at him. "Of course I'm gonna do my job, Stiles. Now, get him down to my car. I've already got someone running to get Lydia over here just in case anything else happens while we're gone."

Derek grunted as Stiles helped him down the ramp to the small parking area beside the infirmary where Patsy's old blue sedan was parked. "Lydia's the redhead, right?" he asked conversationally.

"Strawberry blonde," Stiles said reflexively. "Genius, but horrible bedside manner. She's the closest we've got to Patsy's backup, I guess?" He turned to Patsy, his expression grim. "Hey, um, any chance I can get you to call my cell later with an update? I just..." He trailed off, turning back to Derek and trying not to think about all of the things that could be wrong. "And drive carefully, okay? He said he was a six out of ten for pain already and he's kind of a tough guy, and-"

"I'll be okay," Derek muttered softly. "I know you're worried, but I'm going to the doctor and I'll be back tonight or in the morning or something."

Patsy unlocked her car as they walked up to it, nodding at Stiles. "I'll call you when I know something. Now, go get calamine for Sven if he wants it and hold down the fort here until Lydia gets here, then get back to work. I know you're worried about this guy, but those kids need you, too."

Stiless nodded as he helped Derek get into the car, even buckling the seat belt for him. "Just, uh, come back. Okay?"

Grimacing as he shifted in the seat, Derek pressed a kiss to Stiles' temple and forced a smile. "Definitely."

Smiling softly, Stiles closed the door and waved as the car pulled away. He turned to Sven and cleared his throat. "Okay, buddy. Calamine time."

Sven looked confused. "Did he just kiss you?"

"Uh..." Stiles froze for a moment, then nodded once. "Just on my forehead. We're... close. Close friends can do stuff like that."

With a shrug, Sven started to walk back up the ramp to the infirmary door. "Some of the guys who were here last year said there was a girl you liked a lot, but you look like you like him."

Inhaling sharply as he followed Sven, Stiles was at least grateful that Sven didn't seem to have any active prejudice toward guys who kissed guys. "I... I do. Like him, that is. He's a cool guy. But I like girls, too. You can like both. And some people decide they're not really one or the other and you can like them, too. It's all cool."

Heading through the door of the infirmary, Sven turned his head around to look at Stiles. "I've seen some Glee, you know. I understand this stuff."

Head lolling back like he'd been punched, Stiles just stood there for a moment. "Dude, that's just... Ugh. Hey, do you want the calamine or do you want to just wait for Lydia with me and then go get ready to go swimming?"

Sven climbed up onto one of the tables, kicking his feet and shrugging. "I'll skip it. It really doesn't itch anymore and the calamine stuff smells funny. Hey, have you ever had sex?"

"That is inappropriate and I'm not answering it, Sven." Stiles took a seat on the table opposite him. "I'd love to be able to answer questions and stuff for you, but you're better off with the internet and very careful phrasing with SafeSearch on."

Rolling his eyes, Sven kicked his feet harder. "There's this one girl, Katie, over in one of the other camp sites and I think I want to try to ask her to the dance."

"So, do it?" Stiles shrugged. "That part I can help you with, at least. You have to get up a lot of courage, but then go up to her and smile and tell her you think she's beautiful and you'd love if she'd go to the dance with you. The worst thing she can possibly say is no."

Sven lay down on his side suddenly, sighing. "She could say she hates my stupid face. Or that she's already got a date. Or maybe she hates dancing!"

Stiles stood up and moved over to where he could pat Sven's shoulder. "And all of those are just different ways of saying 'no'. Heartbreak is basically the number one topic of songs. It's gonna happen, but you're gonna love it in a really weird way because it means you tried something and it didn't work but you kept on living anyway."

"Bravo, Stiles," said a voice from the hallway, the speaker entering the room a moment later. "So, why am I here?"

"Hey, Lydia." Stiles shoved his hands in his pockets. "So, uh, Derek. You know Derek, right? Anyway, I kind of warned him about Lady being a biter yesterday and we did horses today and Lady tried to lick him and he kind of jumped off of his horse and frightened her so he got kicked a little in the side."

Her eyebrows raised. "You do realize that everyone knows you're kind of a thing, right?" 

Stiles glared at her for a moment. "So? It's a new thing and it's _my_ thing."

"Don't want to share your toys?" Lydia lifted her chin as she grinned. "I approve. I wasn't looking forward to you stalking me again this year."

Sven opened his mouth to speak, but Stiles cut him off. "It was not stalking. I never took photos or went into your tent or went by the pool when you guys were there. I'm the one who turned Matt in for that stuff, remember?"

She gave him a once over, head tilting slightly. "True." She straightened her head again and glared at him. "So I'm filling in for Patsy. Lovely. Is there a reason you guys are still here?"

"We were just waiting for you. Patsy's orders. See ya later, Lydia." Stiles nudged Sven's shoulder until he slid off the table and started to follow him. 

Lydia pursed her lips. "If you want a girl to go to the dance with you? Give her a flower. At this age, girls like that. When they're older, that's when they need more than that."

Sven grinned and yelled "Thanks!" as he ran toward the door.

Stiles walked toward the door, grinning back at Lydia. "Derek? Totally snagged him with Raisinets. Guys are easy."

She smiled, letting out a soft laugh before waving a hand in his direction and moving out of his line of sight. Stiles raced to follow Sven, relieved that it hadn't actually hurt much to talk to Lydia. She'd been a summer crush. Derek, though... He was a summer relationship and therefore a step up in all ways. But he was also at the hospital which had Stiles frowning and passing Sven as he sped up some on the way back to camp. There was still a bit of time before lunch, certainly long enough for Stiles to get his phone and power it on. Then, he could talk Sven through how to deal with the talent show practice that night until it was time to meet everyone at the mess hall. 

Later, after the talking and the eating and the trying to answer all of the questions the campers had about Derek even though he didn't actually know much himself, Stiles led the campers over to the pool, getting into his swim trunks and taking his place at the shallow end. Scott took the lifeguard's chair and Isaac walked around the pool. It wasn't until the swim session was nearly over that the sound of Stiles' ring tone finally broke through the noise of the kids playing in the pool. Stiles waved down Isaac and picked up the call, wandering back to the changing area as he said, "Hello?"

Patsy's voice broke through a second later. "Hey, Stiles. Derek just got through with the doctor. He's got two broken ribs, but they're not that bad, though the bruising is pretty gross looking. We're going to stop by the pharmacy and pick up his meds and a big ACE bandage and then be on back."

Stiles let out a breath he hadn't know he'd been holding. "Thanks for letting me know. Just... tell him I'm thinking of him?" He made a face, banging his fist lightly against his temple.

"Tell him yourself, sweetie." Patsy's voice sounded like she was grinned as she moved the phone away from her ear.

A moment later, Derek's voice came over the line, somewhat slurred. "Heyyy, Stiles."

"Derek. How are you feeling?" Stiles found his fingers playing with his phone case, wincing at the realization that he would have been letting a phone cord twist around his fingers if the same conversation had happened fifteen years earlier.

A soft hum carried on for a few beats. "They gave me Percocet. It still hurts a little, but it's not so bad now. I miss you."

Feeling a blush start to creep across his cheeks, Stiles grinned. "I miss you, too, dude. You going to be up for dinner tomorrow night, then?"

"Yeah. Just can't do my push-ups in the morning and I'll have to be careful on the physical stuff for a bit. We can make out, though. I asked." Derek continued to slur his words slightly and Stiles wished he could see the man, obviously pretty high off of the pain killers. "Hey, Stiles?"

Gnawing a tiny piece of dried skin off of his lower lip, Stiles froze. "Yeah?"

"Love you and see you soon." The line went silent and disconnected a moment later, leaving Stiles gawking at his phone.

Rationally, Stiles knew that the sentiment of love had an annoying tendency to make itself be vocalized when the speaker was under the influence of something. But, the irrational part of him clung to the words as something that the future might actually have in store for them. Stiles turned off his phone and slid it into his bag with his other belongings, taking a moment to lean against the wall and just remember the breathy sound of Derek's voice and the drawl of his vowels. Taking a moment to think about his job in hopes of actually composing himself, Stiles moved back out to the pool, catching everyone's attention with a broad wave of his arms. "Hey, guys?"

Isaac and Scott did their best to get everyone looking toward Stiles, even as Scott had to yell at one of the kids in the deeper water not to pee in the pool. "Dude, the water is turning purple around you. I told you guys we put chemicals in here for that."

"Anyway!" Stiles grinned at the campers, suddenly feeling particularly warm and fuzzy in regards to the kids. "I just got a call from the camp nurse and your counselor Derek is going to be okay. We should have him back tomorrow, but you'll all need to be really gentle with him. He might need to sit out of the hike in the morning, so I'll need you all to behave, but I'm told he has an awesome bruise so maybe you'll get to see that if you're good." He imagined for a moment being a counselor for the girls and not being able to use potentially seeing a gruesome injury as a way to get the kids to stay somewhat calm, but decided to be glad he was stuck with the boys, never mind that the camp wouldn't have allowed it.

The rest of the day seemed all too easy to get through, and Stiles had a hard time falling asleep because Derek was already asleep in the bed next to his own, his breathing just edging into a snore occasionally. The next day would be awesome. Stiles wasn't going to allow it to be anything else.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It isn't so much that this chapter took forever as it is that my mother stayed over for the entirety of Memorial Day "weekend", my computer had to be completely reformatted, and then I went to a con. So, while there's still no update schedule, I don't expect to go that long without an update again.
> 
> And, if you didn't see, the rating jumped up because there is sexual content in this chapter.

Stiles groaned as he slid into his seat in the mess hall, happy to finally get off of his feet after leading the morning hike. He couldn't help but smile when Derek took the seat next to him, though. "Hey, buddy. Have a good time sleeping in this morning?" 

Derek waved a hand at him, looking groggy enough still that Stiles wondered if he'd just gotten up. "I got up early and spent the morning reading. Painkillers just always make me tired."

"Oh? What kind of stuff do you read?" Stiles noticed everyone filing in at the table and taking their seats, but was content to remain in his bubble of conversation with Derek. 

"I tend to read a lot of classic lit, but I was reading the Bourne Identity this morning. Ludlum is a great way to feel smart without taxing your brain." Derek rubbed at his side carefully. "So, talent show tonight. What else are we getting up to today?"

Grinning as Scott slid plates in front of both him and Derek, Stiles picked up his fork. "Thanks, Scott," he said with a wave before turning back to Derek. "After lunch, we'll be in the arts & crafts room to help people with costumes and props or whatever for the talent show while everyone practices a little. Be prepared for a lot of glitter because we'll be helping the girls, too. There's a little mixer thing in the courtyard afterward so people can talk and get to know each other and maybe make dates for the dance, but we'll be gone during that."

Sighing, Derek nodded his head. "It's amazing. This is a co-ed camp and two guys end up in arts & crafts while all of the female counselors look like they could give themselves a manicure while taking down a bear."

Stiles snorted into his macaroni and cheese. "Dude, none of them _look_ like they could do that. But, you're right that they probably could. Allison's new so I don't know her well yet, but after that archery practice? I'm not looking to find out." He reached over to rest his fingers against Derek's arm. "How are you doing, really?"

Derek shrugged the shoulder that wasn't above his injured side. "It still hurts, but it's not that bad now." He cleared his throat. "So, what are we doing tonight?"

Grinning, Stiles pulled his hand back toward himself, his smile growing even large when Derek grabbed his hand, holding it gently. "We're going out for amazing pizza and then shopping. I was planning on mini-golf, but I think we can hold that for later in the summer."

Squeezing Stiles' hand, Derek smiled. "That sounds nice."

"Yeah, it really does." Stiles tried to wipe the stupid grin off of his face as he finished eating, but the eye roll he got from Sven told him he hadn't succeeded.

After helping to clean up, they directed their campers to where they would be practicing and then Derek and Stiles retreated to the arts & crafts room, pulling open the cabinets and opening up large plastic totes full of things that might be transformed into costumes or props. The first group of people in were a group of girls wanting to perform Rapunzel since one of them had nearly floor-length blond hair and Stiles got to help craft a cardboard "tower" for her to be imprisoned in while standing on a chair as Derek helped make a crown for the girl playing the prince to go along with the sword she'd found in one of the plastic totes, even if a cutlass wasn't exactly the right kind to have. 

Stiles couldn't help but laugh at the fact that Derek ended up with pink glitter in his thick eyebrows almost right away.

By the time of the talent show, Stiles was wearing two Batman band-aids over papercuts from cardboard, and had instructed three different boys in how to avoid stage fright. Isaac had volunteered to stay backstage to help direct everything since Allison was, meaning Scott also volunteered making Stiles content to sit in the audience with Derek and watch as the different groups went through songs and skits and dances (and one memorable burst of bad poetry). Stiles genuinely enjoyed several of the performances, but couldn't help the swell of pride as Sven led his group through a performance that spoofed the four counselors from their campsite, bringing down the house as he imitated Stiles (complete with brown moles drawn all over his face) while James wore a felt beard and didn't speak much, but kept smiling at Sven and carrying him often. At the very end, Sven pulled James into a very exaggerated kiss, drawing various reactions from the crowd, but nothing worse than a few gasps of shock.

Derek gripped Stiles' hand through the rest of the performances.

After the voting happened, Stiles wasn't all that shocked to see that Sven's group won, and went up to give him his congratulations quickly. "Geez, kid. You did great, but is that really what you think of me?" 

Sven shrugged, but smiled. "What? We didn't do anything that you guys haven't done. Right?"

Stiles was silent for a moment. "There's a patch of wildflowers about five feet behind the sign pointing toward the mess hall from the lower trail. Remember to grab some of those for that girl you like and ask her to the dance."

"Are you going to be here for it?" Sven twisted the toe of his sneakers into the dirt.

"Derek and I have the night off so we're heading out, unless you mean the dance. I'll be there for that." Stiles tucked his hands into his pockets, trying not to look anxious to leave.

Sven grinned. "Good. Dance with Derek there so I don't look as bad."

"You assume I'm a bad dancer!" Stiles pouted.

"I don't have to assume. You can barely walk." Sven laughed. "Now, go on your date while I go try to get mine."

As Sven walked away, Stiles couldn't help but remember the many times he'd put on a brave front at that age. But, it had only come when he'd started to heal. He hoped that was the case with Sven, too. Suddenly, Derek's arm was around his shoulders. "Hey!"

"You ready to go?" Derek let his arm drop back down with a slight wince.

Nodding, Stiles turned toward the trail. "Yeah. We can take my Jeep since I know the way and it's got new shocks so it'll be good on these back roads and you're probably not supposed to be driving right now anyway."

Derek could only grin as he fell in step beside him.

It took almost half an hour to get to the restaurant from the start of their walk and through their car ride, but it was pleasant. Derek was relaxed and teasing as he spoke, even mentioning that he thought he should probably just get a felt beard of his own so that he never had to deal with how itchy his own could be. They'd both broken down in laughter at the thought.

The restaurant wasn't that busy since it was a Monday night, and Stiles was glad of it because the place could get rather noisy. "So, it's basically just pizza here, but it's all organic and has only locally grown and made ingredients."

Derek looked overwhelmed as he took in the list of possible ingredients. "What do you normally get?"

"Chicken, spinach, bacon, and caramelized onion." Stiles grinned. "I'd say let's split one, but I'm into cold pizza so I'm going to get a large just for me."

"Hmm." Derek raised an eyebrow as he dragged a finger along the page. "I think maybe I'll try this garlic meatball pizza?"

Stiles grinned. "I'm having onions and you're having garlic so it should all be good for the making out later."

Derek huffed out a breath. "You assume there will be making out."

"I _hope_ there will be making out." Stiles kicked his feet out under the table, finding one of Derek's ankles and pinning it between his own. "I mean, I'll be kissing you in my head regardless." 

His other leg coming forward so they were pinning each other's ankles, Derek grinned. "Do I want to know what else you do to me in your head?"

Stiles leaned forward slightly, licking his lips. "Mmm... probably not. Unless, of course, you do want to know just how much I want you. Because then? You might want to know what I do to you in my head... and what I imagine you do to me."

The look Derek gave him made Stiles more than a little hard, but they were interrupted by the waitress bringing their drinks. 

When they'd finally finished dinner and loaded back into the Jeep, Stiles couldn't help but to reach over and run his fingers along Derek's arm. "So, um... We briefly mentioned the whole possibly staying up all night thing. But, I figure asking again couldn't hurt?"

"I..." Derek laughed softly. "Where, though?"

Eyebrows lifting, Stiles grinned. "Um, well, Make Out Point again? Or... We could just head into the arts & crafts room. There's a couch in there, after all." Derek sucked in a breath and nodded, and Stiles took that as his cue. "Did you need to go shopping for anything?"

"Anything I might need can wait until Wednesday night," Derek said, reaching out to run a hand along Stiles' knee. "Is it bad that I'm counting myself lucky to get two nights free from responsibility each week with you?"

Stiles spread his legs slightly as he drove. "You're not the only lucky one, then. You are seriously the luckiest thing that's ever happened to me." Derek's hand stayed a comforting presence on his knee for the rest of the drive.

The arts & crafts room was dark and silent when they entered, but Stiles was quick to put the latch on the door and forge a path toward the small couch, gesturing for Derek to sit down first. "What am I allowed to do, Derek?"

Derek settled into the center of the couch and licked his lips, his face speckled by moonlight. His voice was low and rough when he spoke. "What do you want to do to me?"

Stiles sucked in a breath as he put his hands on Derek's knees, spreading them slightly as he knelt down in front of him. "I would love to have my mouth on you wherever you'd let me."

Groaning softly, Derek moved his hands to his belt, slowly working toward opening his pants. "If... if you want..."

"Dude, want doesn't even begin to describe it." Stiles pulled back and helped Derek ease down his pants until they were hanging on to one ankle, taking in what he could of the sight of Derek's cock through his gray boxer briefs. He positioned himself on his knees in front of him with purpose this time, leaning forward and pressing his mouth against the head through Derek's boxers, sucking on the fabric and tasting the precome that was already starting to soak through. "And you're okay with this?"

His head leaning back, Derek nodded and spread his legs further. "Please."

Stiles kissed the wet spot on Derek's underwear again, then slid his fingers along the lines of Derek's hips until he caught at his waistband, pulling it down carefully and watching Derek's cock spring up slightly as Stiles tucked the waistband under his balls, forcing them up against the base of his cock. He kissed them, then let his tongue trace up along the underside of Derek's length, breathing in his musky scent that only seemed to compliment the slightly salty taste of his skin. 

Derek's fingers clutched at his hair, but they did nothing to hold Stiles or move him, seemingly content to just be part of the process. Stiles let his own hands help in stroking the base of Derek's cock and palming his balls as he worked the head with his mouth. He pulled away a moment later with a wet slurp, smiling broadly before letting his tongue trace between his fingers and around the rim of the glans as Derek brought one of his hands up to his mouth the cover it, stifling some of his moans. 

Never taking in more than the head and the first few inches of Derek's cock, Stiles continued to be creative with his fingers and tongue and lips to stimulate the rest of him. Derek was sweating and tense with impending orgasm, groaning out Stiles' name and looking down to watch him, taking in the picture of serenity that Stiles made with his lips stretched wide around Derek's cock and his eyes wide and full of something Derek didn't dare try to put a name to. As he watched, Stiles' eyes closed with a soft flutter of long lashes against pale cheeks and sucked, finally pulling Derek over the precipice. "Fuck, Stiles. I'm-" His words cut off as he groaned with the first tremor of release, eyes rolling back slightly as Stiles swallowed every drop, chasing the last vestiges of his come with his tongue.

Pulling back, Stiles grinned. "Was that okay? I have a horrible gag reflex so deep throating is just not even an option, but I like to do that."

Derek nodded, reaching down to grab Stiles' arm and urging him up beside him on the couch. "Perfect," he whispered, and leaned in to kiss Stiles, seeming to delight in the way Stiles' lips were puffy and wet beneath his own, and tasted of the combination of them. When he pulled away a minute later, he noticed the way Stiles' pants were still tented out and gave the other man a smirk. "Want me to jerk you off?"

Stiles had his pants around his knees before Derek could get himself tucked away, making Derek continue to smirk as he took his time getting his pants back on. He brought his hand to his mouth as he settled back on the couch, tongue slipping along his palm and across his fingers, even delving slightly between them, then curled his hand around Stiles' length and began to stroke him slow and steady, his thumb rubbing a quick circle against the underside of the head with each pass. His eyes gave equal viewing to the way Stiles' length slipped through his fingers and the way his face showed every note of the pleasure he was deriving from it. "Derek," he whispered softly, his hips canting upward. "Faster?"

He met the request immediately, then let his other hand quest behind Stiles' balls to press one finger against his perineum, slowly circling and pressing. Stiles gasped with the pleasure of the sensations, letting himself cling to the feelings until his balls pulled tight a moment later and he came in slow lazy spurts dribbled against the back of Derek's hand. Making sure that Stiles was watching, Derek brought his hand up to his mouth and started to lick it clean, pulling his fingers into his mouth and sucking them off with soft noises of pleasure. 

"It should be a criminal offense to look like that when you're eating my come." Stiles lay back against the couch, boneless, and let out a soft sigh. "This is officially the best summer ever. I could die in an explosion tomorrow from some freak arts & crafts accident and feel like I lived a full and healthy life."

Derek laughed and arranged himself carefully next to Stiles, cautious of his injured side. "I'm going to be paying for that exertion later."

Stiles grimaced and worked to pull his pants back up. "Sorry! I didn't even think-"

"It's okay, Stiles." Derek pulled him closer and kissed him softly. "Worth it." He stood suddenly and looked toward the door. "I think if we stay here I'm probably going to be all too willing to injure myself more. Can we save the staying up all night until I'm a little more healed?"

Standing up to join Derek, Stiles nodded. "Totally. After that, I think I can manage sleep pretty easily. Y'know, except that whole bit about how my dreams are going to be the kind of amazing that means I'll be a tripod in the morning."

Derek snorted. "I'd like to see you keep a camera steady on that tripod." 

"There is porn that's filmed like that's the case." Stiles shrugged. "Hey, we totally left our pizza in my Jeep, didn't we."

"I think so. Should be go back to get it?" Derek started walking toward the door, looking back at Stiles as he spoke.

Stiles followed quickly. "Nah. I don't want Scott smelling it in the morning. Three times last year he ate my leftover pizza without asking. It put a serious strain on our friendship. Like, enough that I had to prank him. After I replaced his sunscreen with a mix of lube and Elmer's glue? He didn't do it again to me. But he might have forgotten because it's Scott. And I have far more interesting things to use lube for now."

Clearing his throat, Derek's eyebrows raised. "Most people go with short sheeting the bed or something as a prank."

"Yeah, well, that would require Scott to make his bed." Stiles slid his hand into Derek's as they walked. "I had fun tonight. And not just in the last bit."

Derek squeezed Stiles' hand, swinging it back and forth between them. "Me, too."

"So, shopping on Wednesday and maybe ice cream?" Stiles tried not to look too hopeful.

"Definitely ice cream." Derek looked hopeful enough for both of them.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are free to pester me with questions and hints to update this over on my [tumblr](http://superhappygenki.tumblr.com). I keep thinking it's only been a week or so since I updated and then it's been, well, much longer. -_-

Stiles tried not to yawn too much the next morning as they led their campers through flag detail. No one ever really got it right the first week, but by the end of the summer the counselors would have figured out how to lead flag duty in a way that actually got everything done the right way on the first try. Still, the flag was hung and they'd saluted it and that was all they were required to do before breakfast. The fact that Tommy had fallen asleep against a tree and Isaac had to go back for him when they realized they had an empty seat at their table in the mess hall was something they all decided was better left undiscussed.

Sitting next to Derek, Stiles ate his cereal quietly for a bit, trying to keep his eyes glued on his spoon. It didn't exactly work when Derek's knee kept brushing his. He was a little embarrassed about what he'd done the night before; so willing to do _that_ in the same room where he helped kids with feathers and glitter. But, it wasn't like worse things hadn't gotten on that couch. As he pulled up the last full bite of his Cheerios, he chanced a look at Derek and couldn't help but break into a smile. "So, uh, free day. You ready to get covered in glitter from head to toe?"

Snorting, Derek let his hand brush across Stiles' thumb before clutching his hand suddenly under the table. "It won't be the first time." He smirked. "I _have_ been clubbing before." 

Chasing the two stray Cheerios in his bowl and trying to get them both on his spoon at the same time, Stiles felt his ears seem to heat up, imagining Derek shirtless and covered in glitter. "Guess we'll have to make a rhinostone disco ball and blast some Katy Perry later."

"I've always liked Lady Gaga better," Derek said, squeezing Stiles' hand softly. "Can we head down early to get things set up? I'm still not exactly sure how to do all of this today. Will it really be a lot of laying around?"

Taking a sip of his cereal milk, Stiles shrugged. "It varies, really. But, usually? We'll get a few kids who pass through when they remember they told their parents they'd bring them something back but then realized they spent all of their money on candy in the camp store. So, it won't be laying around like last night, but it should still be pretty easy."

Derek huffed out a breath and dragged their joined hands over toward his lap. "As it turns out, I like pretty easy in the right circumstances." He smirked. "Want to head up and grab our pizzas? We can nibble while we work."

"Nibble?" Stiles laughed. "A guy like you should never use the word nibble. Demonstrate, maybe, but that word..." He smirked and kicked his foot against Derek's. "The dance is tonight, anyway. Wanna be my date?"

Smiling, Derek let his thumb drag slowly along the back of Stiles'. "I thought you'd never ask." He paused. "Next week, I get to ask you, though."

"This isn't a standing date?" Stiles sighed. "Well, I guess I can understand. It's awfully fast to be going steady, after all."

Clearing his throat, Derek stretched his fingers out against Stiles' hand. "It is, isn't it?" He nodded slowly. "How about you go up and grab the pizza since it's in your Jeep and I'll head down to the craft room in case someone is desperate to get their hands in paper mache?"

Stiles sucked in a breath and held it while Derek spoke. "Yeah. Sure. See you back here in a little bit." He forced a smile onto his face, wondering if he'd said too much or not enough. Taking the last sip of milk from his bowl, Stiles stood up, pulling his hand from Derek's. "I'll meet you there as soon as I can." He gave him a small wave before walking off quickly and heading up to their campsite to grab his keys.

It took almost half an hour to get the pizza and walk back to the arts & crafts room, but Stiles used the time to think through possible scenarios with Derek. Maybe a hard and fast crush on both their parts wasn't _such_ a bad thing? That kind of thing went strong for weeks before it fizzled out. They didn't need to be anything more than that, no matter how much it just felt right to be together. For all Stiles knew, Derek was actually kind of a playboy and this was all part of his game. He was sure he was supposed to dislike the idea of even being the target of that, but it was difficult. If a guy like Derek would choose him for any reason... It still made Stiles feel pretty worthy. He took a deep breath before heading through the door of the arts  & crafts room to meet Derek, smirking at the realization that no one had yet showed up to make anything, but Derek was still working on weaving together a lanyard. "Hey."

Looking up, Derek grinned sheepishly, holding up the half-finished lanyard. "I got bored."

"All black, though." Stiles set the pizza boxes down on one of the tables and moved toward Derek, tracing over his fingers softly where they clutched the craft string. "I rate it high for difficulty level, but low for visual appeal."

Derek snorted. "I like black. And there was a lot of it in the cabinet."

"I like you." Stiles pressed his lips shut after he said the words, but forced himself to sit down in the chair next to Derek and continue speaking. "Whatever this is, whatever you want it to be... I want it, too. So, your pace. All of it. Physical and otherwise." He nodded roughly. "So, if you want to hold hands at the bonfire and make all of the campers laugh at us but still not call us anything more than just Stiles and Derek? I'm cool with that. Dude, I just... A guy like you doesn't come along every dynasty."

Setting the lanyard down, Derek moved his hands to cup Stiles' jaw and leaned in to kiss him softly. "You should know now that Mulan is one of my weaknesses." He brushed his thumb along one of the moles on Stiles' cheek. "I want to be part of Stiles and Derek, whatever they are. Whatever _we_ are. And I kind of hate that we met here and now because I'm not sure how much of what I'm feeling is just because of the circumstances. But I also like it a lot because it means I can't run away from this. I'm bad about that."

"If you do need space..." Stiles leaned forward until his forehead was pressed against Derek's. "Don't be afraid to tell me. I don't want to scare you off. I want to have a fun summer with you, but it's just the first week. If all I get out of this summer is what we've had so far, then I'm good. Great, actually. Anything else is just..." He pressed his mouth forward, claiming Derek's lips in a rough press, opening his lips and tasting the other man, sucking on his lower lip and gasping when Derek returned the kiss with equal fervor. Stiles pulled away roughly a moment later, gasping. "We shouldn't do that here, huh? Because kids?"

Derek shook his head. "No. We shouldn't do that here _now_. But, tonight?"

Stiles felt a shiver go up his spine and nodded. "Yeah, okay. After we get the kids settled."

Picking up his lanyard and starting to weave it together once more, Derek cleared his throat. "I've never... This is all new to me. This feeling wild and reckless."

"Seriously? You taught wilderness survival, but liking me is wild." Stiles picked up a pair of scissors and a piece of purple construction paper and started cutting. "I'm not exactly wild, but I am reckless. I guess I figure that whatever I do, I'll get through it and probably end up a better person on the other side of it."

Pulling tightly on the lanyard string, Derek stared at his hands for a long moment. "What if you would have been a better person without doing those things?"

Stiles paused mid-cut. "That's impossible to know. I mean, I'm not stupid enough to actually put myself in obvious danger. But, I guess I figure that people who never get hurt never really learn how to live. If I don't put myself out there, then I'll never know what I'm missing. And if I don't know what I'm missing, I might be happy with what I've got. And no one should ever be satisfied because then you stop trying." He shrugged his shoulders before starting to cut again. "We're too young to learn what giving up means."

"Boyfriend." Derek coughed softly, letting one foot press over to slide against Stiles'. "I'm not going to say I'll actually be a good one, but you make me want to try. So, if it's okay with you, let's just go at this full out and if it ends, it ends." 

Stiles made one more snip to his paper and grinned, twisting it into a circle and tucking two flaps together to make it into a pale purple crown that he put onto Derek's head. "It's definitely okay with me."

Derek slid the crown off and looked at it, scoffing suddenly. "You crown me king and don't even have the decency to dig out the glue and rhinestones?"

"Chill! This is the prototype. I needed to make sure the sizing was right before I cover it with enough glitter and fake plastic gemstones to drown you in." Stiles snatched the paper from his hands and pouted. "You should make me a tiara out of pipe cleaners."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Derek leaned toward Stiles and stared him down. "You think I won't."

"I think that even if you do, it won't top the crown I'm making for you." Stiles smirked and mirrored Derek's body language.

"We'll have to wear them to the dance to get opinions, then." Derek stood up and moved toward the cabinets, returning a moment later with a small tote full of pipe cleaners. "You're not afraid of the competition, are you?"

Stiles wove his fingers together and stretched them out in front of him, cracking his knuckles. "I'm more afraid of seeing your face when you lose, dude."

That evening after dinner, Stiles and Derek stood in front of one another at the entrance to the large basement area used for the dances and for keeping the kids entertained if it rained too much for them to actually participate in activities. Stiles placed Derek's purple crown onto his head and tried not to laugh as some of the purple glitter fell off immediately to dust across his forehead. "You look ravishing in purple, Your Highness."

Picking up the tiara made of purple and silver pipe cleaners with more purple gems glued onto it haphazardly, Derek settled it carefully onto Stiles' head. "And now you match."

Sven walked over to them and looked between them before rolling his eyes. "If you're going to act like this is prom, at least make sure someone gets a picture of you."

Stiles grinned. "So, what do you think? Whose is better?"

"Uh, neither?" Sven shrugged. "They both look stupid, but at least they look like they're meant to be stupid together." He paused. "Like you guys." He glanced over toward the door and smiled suddenly. "And now my date is here and I have to go be charming."

"Good luck on that, punk!" Stiles called after him, reaching up to adjust his tiara. "Geez. I keep thinking we're not being that obvious, but then people say things and I wonder just how obvious we're being."

Derek put an arm around Stiles' shoulders and pulled him into a gentle embrace. "Let's just be us. It doesn't matter if we're obvious or not as long as we're not caught breaking any rules."

"I notice you added the 'caught' in there. I appreciate that distinction." Stiles slipped his arms around Derek's waist and started to sway softly to the beat of the music being pumped through the room. "This doesn't hurt your ribs, does it?"

"No." Derek began to move as well, not caring that there was actually a little pain. "Look, um, I've actually got a pass on the bonfire tonight if I want it."

Stiles' eyebrows raised. "Seriously? Is the fire bad for your injury?"

Shaking his head, Derek let out a soft huff of laughter. "No. Just... I know I mentioned that my parents were dead, but I don't think I told you how they died. It... there was a fire. A big one. I can deal with a regular campfire, but a bonfire? I just don't want to put myself in a position where I feel like I'm going to freak out in front of the kids." 

"I understand." Stiles let his hands slide down to Derek's hips, losing the beat for a moment before finding it again. "I get panic attacks sometimes. Not often anymore, but a lot right after my mom died. I don't like to be around other people when they happen, and I definitely wouldn't want to have that happen to me in front of a bunch of kids who are supposed to trust me. I mean, it's bad enough I ended up in the infirmary, right?" He licked his lips. "Do you want me to skip out on it, too? It's a nice night for a walk."

With a press of his lips against Stiles' temple, Derek murmured a note of agreement. "Please."

"Okay." Stiles smiled softly and looked up at Derek, their noses almost touching. A sudden flash made him look to his side to see Lydia brandishing a camera. "Warn a guy!"

She rolled her eyes and flipped her hair back over one shoulder. "I'll just make sure you get a copy."

Grimacing, Stiles tried to stay mad, but ended up just stomping one foot down. "Fine. Give Derek one, too."

Derek chuckled softly, the fingers of one hand sliding into the hair at the nape of Stiles' neck. "We never did find out who has the better royal headgear."

"I think it's just a well-matched set. Maybe like us?" Stiles leaned back against Derek's fingers, smirking.

"Yeah." Derek nodded, grinning goofily. "I think maybe we make a good pair."

Stiles laughed and pulled Derek against him. "I'm glad I'm not the only one."

"I believe we also have Sven and Lydia approval," Derek whispered against Stiles' ear.

Shivering, Stiles pressed his face against Derek's shoulder for a moment. "I keep having to count my fingers to make sure I'm not dreaming. This summer... it's amazing already. Good things don't usually happen to me so..."

"Me either." Derek pulled back as the music changed. "Maybe this is just our turn. Now-" He glanced toward the sound board. "It's Lady Gaga and we're glittering. Let's dance."

Stiles plucked the crown off of Derek's head and shook it over his own head, closing his eyes and laughing as he felt some of the glitter hit his forehead. Putting it back on Derek's head, he threw his own head back with laughter. "Come on! Show me your moves." He let his own arms drop in front of him, dancing jerkily, but somehow looking like it was all intentional.

Derek raised his own arms in front of him, hands curled into fists, and twisted along with Stiles' motions while laughing, his smile bright even in the relative darkness of the room. "You dance divinely."

Doing a little gallop in the middle of a dance move, Stiles nodded. "It's why I get all of the babes, babe."

"Obviously." Derek moved closer again, content to keep up his gentle swaying. "I'm having a great time, though. And I don't think it's just the Vicodin."

Stiles tilted his head back, haughty. "Entirely the company. And a little Vicodin."

"We're being horrible chaperones, aren't we?" Derek raised an eyebrow at two kids dancing very closely. 

"Eh, who cares? You're injured and I take lead in our group on most things. Scott and Isaac owe me." Stiles smirked and let his hands come up to rest on Derek's shoulders.

Derek sucked his lower lip into his mouth, letting it scrape against his teeth on the way back out. "And do I owe you?"

Stiles shook his head. "Nope. I think we're pretty even so far."

Pressing a quick kiss to Stiles' lips before pulling away, Derek grinned. "Good. Let's keep it that way."


	9. Chapter 9

"I think they're retiring a flag at the bonfire tonight," Stiles said as he twined his fingers with Derek's and headed down the path away from their campsite. "Some kid always cries because they think they're desecrating the thing instead of doing the proper thing."

Derek snorted. "I'm pretty sure I was that kid when I was young. Just enough forced patriotism to care, but not enough boy scouts to teach me otherwise."

With a skip in his step, Stiles turned to face Derek a bit more. "Tell me more about young you. I'm curious."

"There's not much to tell. I was a brat who played basketball pretty well and thought that made me better than most people. When my parents died, I realized that I wasn't exactly being the person they wanted me to be, so I guess I started working hard to be someone they could be proud of." Derek cleared his throat, shrinking down a little at the look Stiles was giving him. "But, I guess I can tell you about the time I was seven and jumping on the trampoline in our backyard and a bird tried to divebomb me. I ended up dropping to one side and one of my legs slid through the springs. They caught on my shorts and I was stuck there until my sister came outside to yell at me. She helped me in the end, but I had to give her my dessert that night."

Stiles pulled Derek into a tight hug. "My dad's the Sheriff and has, amazingly, only arrested me once. I probably deserved it a lot more than that. It was the night before I turned eighteen, so it's not on my record, and it was for a really stupid thing. I may have gotten a little intoxicated and decided to try to pee my name in the snow. Only, my birthday's in April, so there wasn't snow... so I tried to sneak into the zoo to pee in the penguin exhibit. I got as far as the bird sanctuary before passing out. But, hey. Still ended up peeing." He looked away awkwardly before reaching is free hand up to rub at the back of his neck. "I figure if we're trading embarrassing stories, I might as well lead with the one that's below the Lydia one so that I can work my way down the list and maybe eventually have a kind of cool one."

Derek tugged on Stiles' hand, forcing him to stop. "Seriously? You think that's less embarrassing than accidentally confessing your crush for someone over the intercom at camp?"

"Uh, yeah. Dude, I still have to work with a lot of the people who heard that. The penguin thing? Only my dad ever brings that up." Stiles shrugged. "The only thing I don't really remember is whether I was going to pee my real name or not. Because, man, I am not normally that ambitious."

"Are you ever going to tell me your real name?" Derek started walking again, careful to keep them on their path even though they hadn't bothered with a lantern.

Shaking his head vigorously, Stiles stomped his next few steps forward. "No way. It is horrible and Polish with a seriously lack of vowels. You have to say the whole thing in the back of your throat so it sounds like a loogie. My name is something for my enemies to learn so they can sputter it out as they die." He shuddered and smirked at Derek. "I like the way you say Stiles, too. It's kind of sexy."

"You're kind of sexy most of the time," Derek said calmly. "It wasn't what I was expecting when I came to work at a summer camp. I fully intended to play a big brother role the entire time."

Gently pushing Derek against a tree, Stiles pressed against him. "I hear that's a thing with big brothers, though. Sometimes they do crazy things like go out on dates and hang out with their friends, and that makes them even cooler." He leaned closer and pressed a wet kiss against the side of Derek's neck. "We've been invited to hang out with Scott, Isaac, Allison, and a few others tomorrow. Or, we can go do something on our own. Up to you."

Groaning, Derek let his arms slink around Stiles' sides, pulling him closer. "We could do something with them to start with and then head off on our own?"

"Want to do mini-golf then?" Stiles laughed and licked a line up Derek's throat, just grazing the stubble under his chin. "I like seeing you playing with balls."

Derek held Stiles' hips in place, arching his back away from the tree in order to grind against him. "Is that an invitation to play with yours?

"You have carte blanche with my body, Derek." Stiles' hips jerked against Derek's and he let out a soft moan. "If you want to make me come in my pants here against a tree? I will happily walk to the shower with my underwear glued to my dick."

"You say the sweetest things." Cupping one of Stiles' cheeks with his hand, Derek pulled him in for a kiss, licking into his mouth with a groan and continuing to grind their hips together until they were both noticeably hard. He pulled away, wiping his lip, and took a deep breath. "How about we go hop in the pool instead?"

Stiles let out a breathy laugh. "You want to go skinnydipping?" He let his knuckles trace against the outline of Derek's dick, biting his lip as he looked him in the eye. "It'll be a little cold, probably, since it's not that far into summer, but it could still be fun."

With a nod, Derek pushed off from the tree and took Stiles' hand again, starting the awkward walk to the pool with an erection. "This being adventurous isn't going to lead to making out in the stable, is it? Because, I like you a lot, but that's pushing things."

"Nope. Horses aren't sexy. Especially since I'm not feeling very generous toward them right now. One of them kicked you! They don't get to see your perfect ass." Stiles reached his free hand over awkwardly in order to pinch said ass, pausing afterward. "Oh, hey. The ribs. You're still all bandaged up, aren't you? So, you probably shouldn't go in the pool. Maybe... maybe next week we'll do this?"

Slamming the flat of his fist against a pine tree, Derek groaned. "Fucking horses."

"Uh, well, that doesn't mean we can't have some fun." Stiles hooked an index finger in the front of Derek's shorts, tracing it along Derek's abdomen. "I certainly wouldn't mind blowing you again."

Derek's eyes started to glaze over at the feel of Stiles' finger getting closer and closer to touching him. "What if I want to blow you?"

"I..." Stiles grinned. "I'm not gonna say no."

Putting his hands on Stiles' hips, Derek turned him so he was leaning back against the pine tree he'd just hit and dropped to his knees in front of him. Licking his lips, he quickly opened the fly of Stiles' pants and pulled his underwear out of the way enough for Stiles' cock to clear the fabric and bob against his stomach. "I should probably let you know that I don't have much of a gag reflex, so if you want to fuck my mouth? Just pull my hair a little first."

"Fuck. Derek, you're not supposed to say things like that. You're gonna- Hngh!" Stiles buried his hands in Derek's hair as the other man's mouth surrounded him, his tongue swirling around the head of Stiles' cock before pressing the tight ring of his lips down his length slowly. "Oh, fuck. You just... That is so hot." 

Derek pulled back to work the tip of his tongue against Stiles' slit, looking up at him with wide eyes and hollowed cheeks. His hands slid up the back of Stile's legs, under his shorts and boxers, and cupped his ass, pulling Stiles further into his mouth. Fingers digging into Stiles' flesh, Derek groaned around the bulk in his mouth and took him in further, tongue working against the vein on the underside of his cock as he swallowed roughly.

His left hand going back behind his head to steady himself against the tree, Stiles pulled Derek's hair with his right hand, his hips jerking forward so bury himself in Derek's throat with a choked gasp. "You... Fuck. Derek, I'm not gonna last very..." Stiles let his head slam back against the tree as his eyes shut tight and he thrust into Derek's mouth again.

Pulling off quickly, Derek licked his lips and pulled his hands out of Stiles' pants. "Do you want to come down my throat?"

Stiles nodded quickly, then let out a soft moan as Derek swallowed him back down, taking him deep and sucking hard. Stiles spread his legs slightly to angle his hips better, then clutched onto Derek's skull with both hands to hold him in place as he came, sliding his cock along Derek's tongue with each short burst of fluid. He let his hands fall to his sides as he leaned back against the tree, panting. "That was..."

"Delicious?" Derek pushed his way to his feet, his erection still obvious, and moved closer to Stiles. "You went a little overboard on pineapple for dessert, didn't you?"

Licking his own lips, Stiles nodded. "I like it." He pulled Derek closer for a kiss, tasting himself on Derek's tongue and groaning. "How do you want me to pleasure you?"

Rutting against Stiles' hip, Derek grunted and reached for the button of his shorts. "Can I fuck your thighs?"

Stiles reached into his pocket quickly, pulling out a small tube of lotion. "Definitely." He pressed the tube into Derek's hand, then turned around and dropped his shorts to his ankles, leaning over to balance himself against the pine tree as he spread his legs slightly. He look back over his shoulder to see Derek squeezing the lotion onto his fingers and grinned. "I want you to know just how hot I find the adventurous side of you. I mean, all of your sides are pretty equally hot, but this one? Right now? I'm into this."

Smoothing a line of warmed lotion between Stiles' legs, Derek sucked in a breath and leaned against his back. "I don't think I'm the adventurous one here, Stiles. You're the one who keeps offering himself to me. I just have a hard time saying no to you." He ran his hand over his cock, smoothing the rest of the lotion against himself, then pressed himself against Stiles' ass and sliding between his cheeks for a moment before angling his dick down to slip between Stiles' thighs. Stiles pressed his legs together again, lifting his ass slightly to change the angle that Derek began to thrust against him with. "Just like that, Stiles. Just like that."

The press of the head of Derek's cock against the back of Stiles' recently emptied balls made Stiles gasp in a breath, hands clenching around the trunk of the tree as he pushed back against Derek, and delighting in the sounds that Derek let escape his lips into the night. "This shouldn't feel so right; so much like everything I want for the rest of forever."

"Why not?" Derek pressed his palms against Stiles hips and thrust into the embrace of his thighs, soft sounds of pleasure floating from his lips between gasps of breath. "It feels pretty right to me, too."

"You're making me fall in love with you," Stiles whispered out, his own chest heaving slightly as his dick twitched, trying futilely to get hard again so soon.

Derek's eyes shut as he increased the pace of his thrusts, pulling away a moment later with a gasp only to drop his hand to his erection, stroking himself until he came a few seconds later with a laugh. He kicked at the dirt in hopes of covering the mess and then moved to press against Stiles again, kissing his neck. "You're not falling alone, you know."

Stiles grinned and reached down to haul his shorts back up. "Who knows? Maybe this'll be the start of a great story to tell our grandkids about how we met. Granddaddy was useless and got injured and then Papa got kicked by a horse, and then they fooled around all over camp to bless the land and make the flowers bloom."

Smacking Stiles' ass, Derek snorted. "That's not the kind of seed that flowers grow from."

"Dude, daisies are going to sprout up from where you just jizzed on the ground. You just..." Stiles grinned, looking a little out of it. "You're magic. You have to be. That's the only explanation for you."

Derek rolled his eyes and slid his arm around Stiles. "I think you're come-dumb. Let's go shower and get ready for tomorrow. We've got a bunch of kids to say goodbye to, and I hear that's the hard part."

Sobering, Stiles nodded and began to walk with Derek. "It is. I mean, some of the kids are shits no matter what, but there's a few I'm really gonna miss."

"Like Sven?" Derek let his thumb rub slow circles against Stiles' back.

"Yeah. Like Sven." Stiles took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before letting it out slowly. "You'll get used to goodbyes by the end of summer, you know. Even the hard ones."

Derek nodded. "It's a good thing goodbye doesn't mean never seeing each other again."

Stiles leaned against him a bit harder. "It doesn't have to mean that at all."

"Do you think you're going to come back here to work again next summer?" Derek lifted a low hanging branch out of their way as they walked.

"Maybe? I guess I'll need to see what my options are. They might not even want me back if I keep slacking like this." Grinning, Stiles slipped his hand into Derek's pocket. "I might need to run a lemonade stand instead."

Derek nodded slowly. "I might need to join you. There aren't any horses involved in making lemonade. But, can I trust you with a knife to cut the lemons?"

"I cannot be trusted with a knife. No. But, I have amazing business acumen and I'm pretty good at drawing banners, so I think I'll need to be the business manager and you'll need to be the production manager. If we play our cards right, we can franchise out by July."

Rolling his eyes, Derek bumped his hip against Stiles'. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Good." Stiles bit his lip as he looked over at Derek. "I'll let you help with the banners, too. Lots of glitter will be needed."

"You and your glitter. Are you secretly a faerie?" 

Shaking his head, Stiles strode confidently through the forest with his hip pressed against Derek's. "Nope. Totally not a secret. Now, to camp with us. I need my beauty sleep."

Derek smiled. "You really don't need that much."


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning was chaos and pain. More specifically, it was the chaos of 36 young boys trying to get everything together that they'd let scatter over the last week following the pain of trying to keep track of them at breakfast when they realized that there was a chance they wouldn't see some of their friends from camp even later in the day. Still, as Stiles went through his share of the tents to make sure that nothing had been left behind, he couldn't help but smile at the memories he had already made. All of the counselors tried to keep from having favorites, but Stiles knew he'd failed that week. He really hoped that Sven would be back the next summer so he could check to see if things had gotten better for him. Things didn't always improve, but they did usually find some kind of equilibrium that Stiles could appreciate. 

It never made sense why they scheduled pick-up for right before lunch, but Stiles supposed it was to give the kids enough time to prepare and for the parents to get there, but to also get out of having to prepare one more meal for them. It did mean that the sun was high in the sky when they finally got all of their kids and their bags to the pick-up area. Stiles got to witness plenty of sweaty hugs and high fives and exchanges of email addresses and phone numbers, and was already getting a little misty eyed from half of his kids thanking him and several of those pulling him into hugs. When Sven came over, his jaw was set in a firm line and he held out his hand. "Thanks."

Stiles shook his head and pulled Sven into a tight hug. "This is not a handshake situation, dude. This is full-on hug territory and you know it."

Whimpering against Stiles' shoulder, Sven returned the embrace. "I'm gonna miss you."

Pulling back, Stiles slapped a hand against Sven's shoulder. "I'll miss you, too." He laughed and rubbed at one eye. "I hope you'll give your dad's new wife a chance. I mean, she won't be as awesome as me, but if you don't give her a chance you're never going to know just how awesome she can be."

"I... I will." Sven turned his head back and frowned. "They're here. I should get going." He paused. "Will you be here next year?"

Stiles pulled a pen and a piece of crumpled construction paper from his pocket, tearing off a section and scribbling down his email before pressing it toward Sven. "I don't know if I'll be here next year or not. But, you can write to me and we can keep in contact that way, and then you'll be one of the first to know."

"Thanks, Stiles." Sven gave him a bright smile and a wave and then dragged his things off toward a black sedan. 

Waving back, Stiles tried to force his breathing to even out, only managing to do so when an arm was slung around his shoulders. He turned his head, expecting Derek, and was surprised to see Scott. "H-hey!"

"You do this every time, dude." Scott laughed. "Hey, so, we've got sandwich stuff in the mess and the staff meeting, but then we're still doing mini-golf, right? I feel like I haven't seen you all week."

Stiles snorted. "As long as you don't mind me dragging along Derek. We'll just both be there and kind of madly in... something. But, we might take off early to do something with just us."

"That's cool." Scott grinned. "This summer is awesome."

"I haven't had a chance to ask, but... how's the whole thing with Allison going? Is Isaac still kind of with her, too?"

Scott shrugged and nibbled on his lip for a moment. "Maybe? I don't know, man. Like, I could see if working for the three of us to just all have some fun together."

His eyes wide, Stiles slapped Scott's shoulder. "Go. Do this so that I may live vicariously through you as I am ruined forever for fun because of feelings."

"Who said I didn't have feelings?" Scott smirked, his already slightly uneven jaw quirking even further to the side for a moment as he backed away. "C'mon, dude. All the kids are gone now, so lunch!" Stiles jogged after Scott with a smile.

Lunch was a slow affair as everyone took the time to be lazy when they could. The schedule they kept to when the kids were there was a stringent one, so they took the time they could to lounge around. When Jackson had finally finished his sandwich (which Stiles couldn't help but notice he'd cut the crusts off of), Ms. Kirk sat down with them and opened a folder, pulling out a stack of papers that she passed to Lydia who took one stapled set and passed the stack along. It took a moment for Stiles to realize that the papers had names on them, but at least he realized it before the stack got to him and he could search through to find his own. He grabbed Derek's to put on top before passing it to him, giving him a soft smile.

Once everyone had their papers, Ms. Kirk folded her hands in front of her on the table and smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners to show her age. "Okay, kids. First week is over and we're doing great. We only had two kids go home early, and one of those was because of a previously unknown allergy to some kind of plant here. While we had a few injuries, and yes, I'm looking at Mr. Hale and Mr. Stilinski, there were significantly less behavioral issues among the campers than we had last year which is commendable. Do what you did this week every week and we should have a great summer." She cleared her throat. "Although, I must remind you all that this is a children's camp. While we have no rules against dating your fellow counselors, there are rules about engaging in adult behavior where they can see it. I trust that any perpetrators of such actions are fully capable of self-policing for the next nine weeks." She held up her own sheaf of papers. "These are your individual evaluations. No one needs a special talking to for once, so I just went with some bullet points of good and bad. Sleep in a little tomorrow, guys. We've got fresh meat coming. And, dismissed."

Stiles practically gnawed at his lower lip as he flipped the page to his notations. While there was a note that he hadn't quite lived up to his reputation from the previous summer, the rest of his bullet points were practically glowing reviews. He looked up at Derek, grinning. "It's cool, dude. I guess we weren't the ones being too adult where the kids could see."

Derek's brows furrowed as he looked over his paper. "She says I need to be more personable with the kids." He let the cover page flutter down and sighed. "We should probably cut back on it a little, though. We've got eighteen more times we can have actual dates before the end of camp. That's plenty, isn't it?"

With a snort, Stiles rolled his paper up and stuck it in his back pocket as he stood. "Dude, I could date you every night and I doubt it would be enough." He looked across the table at where Erica Reyes was scowling at her paper. "Yo, Erica! Have a little trouble keeping it in your pants?"

She smirked and raised one eyebrow. "Well, when it's that big, it's kind of hard to-"

"Erica!" Boyd swatted her wrist with his own rolled up paper. "I'd tell you to behave, but I've had to say it to kids too many times this last week already."

Shrugging, Erica looked at Stiles again. "I just tell them to do what I say, not what I do."

Lydia sat down suddenly next to Stiles with a roll of her eyes. "So, you two are in for mini-golf, plus we've got Scott, Allison, Isaac, Jackson, and me. Is there anyone else I should be inviting?"

Stiles thought over the other counselors and shook his head slowly. "It sounds like we're doing some weird triple date, so might as well just leave it at that."

"How many people can you fit in that deathtrap of yours?" Lydia polished her nails against her shirt, her face already showing impatience.

Derek coughed. "We're going on a real date afterward, so I think it'll just be the two of us in his Jeep." He looked to Stiles. "Unless you want to drive my Camaro?"

"You seriously know the way to a man's heart, don't you?" Stiles grinned. "Totally, dude. I'll take advantage of that since you can't really drive it right now anyway."

Lydia rolled her eyes again. "Don't you dare be cuter than Jackson and I are out there today. I will hit you with my putter." Straightening her collar, she inhaled sharply. "We'll meet you there at two." Standing, Lydia walked off briskly.

Stiles snorted. "I'm going to get hit with a golf club and it will be totally worth it."

When two o'clock rolled around, Stiles and Derek pulled into the parking lot of the mini-golf place and got out to join everyone else who was already there. It didn't take long to go in and get started, Lydia taking the scorecard with a smirk as well as the pink ball. Everyone else squabbled a bit over their colors, but eventually they made their way to the first hole. Lydia held up the scorecard. "We're going in alphabetical order by first name, so no one complain." She pointed to Allison with the back of the short pencil she held. "So, you first."

Putting her ball down, Allison lined up her shot and took a careful but precise swing and smirked a moment later when she sank the ball in the hole on the first try. "This is why you shouldn't let ladies go first, boys." She high-fived Lydia.

Derek looked around before putting his own green ball down with a wince and taking a full four strokes to sink it. "Give me a break. I'm injured."

Jackson rolled his eyes. "You can't help that you've got some of Stilinski's failure in your pores when you roll around with him like you do."

Leaning on his putter, Derek snorted. "Really. Your big insult is that I'm having sex with a hot guy. Nice one. Really."

Stiles nudged Isaac forward. "Your turn, dude. I mean, the alphabet has zero actual reason to be in the order it's in just like any alphabet, but you're still up."

"Uh..." Isaac put down his yellow ball and looked between Jackson and Derek. "You guys aren't going to fight, are you?"

Derek raised his eyebrows. "Of course not. Now, if Jackson here can't learn to be professional with his colleagues, and civil with his friends, then we might have problems, but I don't think that'll be a problem." He tilted his head slightly as he looked at Jackson. "Will it?"

Jackson swallowed roughly. "No. Stilinski knows I was just joking. He's fine. Great guy, even."

Isaac just shook his head and moved on to hitting his ball. By the time they cycled through Stiles, the tense atmosphere had eased, though it picked up occasionally between Allison and Jackson as they battled for the lowest score. Derek was getting along well with everyone, although Jackson was being cautious with him still, and Stiles was glad of it. Though, he did pull Derek aside during Jackson's next turn to ask quietly, "You don't intend to be that guy who defends my honor over everything, do you?"

Derek smirked. "I was trying to defend my own. Why, do I _need_ to defend your honor?"

"No, just..." Stiles slid his arms around Derek and gave him a gentle hug. "I keep expecting to find something wrong with you, but all I can find is that you can't find anything wrong with _me_."

Brushing his lips against Stiles', Derek let out a soft hum. "I'm a little annoyed that you can't see how amazing you are. Is that enough of a flaw?"

Stiles looked him over for a moment, but eventually he smiled. "Also, the shape of your stubble isn't perfectly symmetrical, and you still have glitter in your eyebrows. There. That's three things, so maybe this can work."

"If you have imperfections, I think I might just like them." Derek nudged the handle of his putter against Stiles' hip. "Your turn, I think."

Holding up his dark blue ball, Stiles nodded. "I want to do a lot more with balls today, by the way." He laughed at the hint of pink that colored Derek's ears a moment later. "Hey, there's another eleven holes. C'mon."

Lydia held up her putter menacingly. "I told you not to be too cute, Stiles!"

Stiles laughed and looked over at where Scott and Isaac had their hands hooked together in an embrace around Allison. "Hey, I think we're all being pretty cute. Try getting Jackson to smile. It might increase your chances." He had to duck when Lydia's pink ball came flying at his face, and hold back his laughter when she sent Jackson chasing after it.

By the time they got to the last hole, Stiles had given up on even trying to win, choosing to get creative in how he hit the ball instead. It hadn't seemed to affect his score badly, or at least no worse than his regular hitting. Allison sank her putt in one, though, earning her a sort of threeway kiss with Scott and Isaac, as well as a card for a free game of mini-golf. Lydia ended up just beating Jackson, letting the girls lead the whole group for scores, but Stiles and Derek came in last. Stiles snorted as he finally nudged his ball into the hole and watched it start to travel down the pipe. "Well, it's a good thing I appreciate wholesome fun without actually needing to make a decent showing. That was horrible, but..." He gestured around to everyone. "It was better because I was with all of you."

With a crooked smile, Scott pulled Stiles into a quick hug. "We're totally doing this again next week. It was fun."

Lydia smiled, her mouth turned up sharply at one corner. "You're a dork, Stilinski. Now, go. The sexual tension is killing us."

Stiles winked. "You don't have to tell me twice. See you guys back at camp!"

Derek waved quickly as Stiles started to pull him away. "See you later."

Back in the Camaro after turning in their clubs, Stiles smiled. "So, to the store? I need more sunscreen and probably some other stuff, too."

"Yeah." Derek adjusted the air vent that was blowing on him, frowning slightly. "There are some things I wanted that the camp store doesn't carry."

"Tell me that you were also thinking lube." Stiles pulled the Camaro out onto the street carefully, trying not to smile too much.

"And condoms." Derek slid a finger under the seat belt strap to keep it from rubbing against his ribs. "I'd rather be prepared, just in case. Wouldn't you?"

Stiles nodded, the movement syncopated against whatever song was playing on the radio. "I certainly wouldn't mind, anyway."

Derek let his knuckles brush against Stiles' arm. "Good. I'm beginning to think I'm far more ready for that than I thought I would be."

"I'd say we could just wait until next week to buy them and everything to help ourselves put it off more or whatever, but you're right that I'd rather have stuff for when we're ready because we keep making these quick little jumps into things. I mean, I was honestly worried I was going to get some kind of mark against me when we were in that meeting earlier!" Stiles pulled the car into the Walmart parking lot as he was speaking and found a parking spot that wasn't too far from the doors. "So, snacks first?"

Grabbing Stiles' hand as they walked toward the entrance, Derek made a clicking noise with his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "How about we grab some dinner afterward, too?"

"You got it." Stiles let his thumb rub against Derek's, picking up a basket from near the door and leading Derek around to get everything they each needed. Once they were checked out and the bags were in the car, Stiles licked his lips. "So, um, I'm not really feeling pizza right now which is weird, and there aren't really any other places in town that are still reasonably cheap that aren't just fast food, so how about steak?"

"I like steak." Derek smiled softly. "But, it's with you. I'm beginning to think I'd eat barbecue flavored packing peanuts if it meant I got to do that with you. I just... Stiles, I believed in love at first sight when I was a kid. A stupid kid. I had a few shitty relationships and then the one I thought was serious nearly killed me. I thought I was done with relationships for a long while, but here I find myself wondering if maybe there's something to that love at first sight thing after all. I want to hold back and take time with this because I think it's worth it and I feel like I'm supposed to, but every time I try to pull back at all, I just can't seem to do it." He licked his lips and looked at Stiles, not quite able to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just dump that all on you at once."

Stiles lifted a hand to cup Derek's jaw, lifting his chin slightly and moving his head to meet Derek's gaze. "I haven't had all of the shit happen to me that you have, Derek, but that doesn't mean I've had it easy in relationships before. And this? This is easy. I don't know why, but I'm not going to question it. I'm happy and I want to see how long that can last. And, you? You're the reason why."

"I should still probably wait for my ribs to heal more before we have sex, though." Derek grinned. "At least an hour. Think that's enough time for dinner?"

Starting the car and putting it into drive, Stiles nodded. "I think we should have dessert, too. Then we get two hours. So much extra healing."

Derek just snorted and let himself relax, wondering how his summer job just to have something to do had given him something that felt like so much more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure this will only have one more chapter, guys. And hopefully it won't take as long as this one has. -_-


	11. Chapter 11

"What do you mean you can't find them?" Stiles rubbed his hand over his face as Scott shrugged at him. "Okay, it's almost lunch, so we're going to take the rest of the kids down to the mess and hope Isaac and the brats are there and if they're not? Derek and I will go find them. How we avoided the prank war in week one, I don't know, but dismantling one of the tents and duct taping Robby and Ben to their beds? I think we're about to have to send them home if they're doing anything but finding that tent and bringing it back with the knowledge that they will do nothing fun for the next two days."

Derek came jogging over from where the showers were, trying not to laugh. "They wrapped Dave in the tent canvas and stuck him in the shower, but he said they were talking about going to the bonfire pit."

"That's it. I'm calling their parents. It was Scott, Dave, Lyle, and Herb, right?"

Scott frowned. "Shouldn't we try to find Isaac first and make sure he's okay?"

"He's probably duct taped to the flag pole. We'll check as we head to lunch. If it's not the flag pole, I'd bet it's a tree, and those aren't too hard to get away from since the tape doesn't really stick." Stiles smiled at Derek, though. "And you thought the first week was exciting, right?"

Derek rolled his eyes. "You know, I _was_ going to ask you if you wanted to go to the next town over where there's actually a movie theater for our next date night, but if you think I need more excitement, maybe I should see about armed robbery."

"Armed robbery is not all it's cracked up to be, dude. Explosions and popcorn and Red Vines are where it's at." Stiles pulled Derek's arm toward him, hugging it, and laughed. "Let's go deal with kids more stupid than we ever were. Except you, Scott. Your aversion to gummy worms because you thought they were still actual worms is disturbing."

Scott frowned. "I just don't like the texture. Don't be a dick, Stiles. It doesn't suit you."

Derek shrugged. "Dick suits him just fine."

Grinning proudly, Stiles slapped his hand against Scott's shoulder. "Seriously, Scotty. Let's go do the stuff. It's our job to ruin the summers of four kids and to find your boy toy."

"I'm not letting you ride _any_ of the nice horses for the rest of the summer." Scott folded his arms in front of himself and started to move toward the camp site.

Stiles nodded. "It's cool. I've got something way better to ride instead."

Derek and Scott replied, in unison, "Stiles!"

* * *

Week four brought near-constant rain storms, forcing Stiles and Derek to work overtime on preparing arts & crafts items for the campers, even going so far as to set them up in the mess hall so that everyone actually had somewhere to work on their projects. Stiles ended up with bandages on most of his fingers thanks to papercuts, but no one seemed to notice when Derek kissed his fingertips. Well, no one who said anything.

* * *

Week six marked the first time they actually got a complaint from where a girl had written home about one of the counselors and his cute boyfriend and how she was excited to find a boy who could smile at her like that. Fortunately, Ms. Kirk laughed off her father's yelling and recommended he witness Stiles and Derek interacting, certain that he'd want someone smiling at him like that, too.

* * *

Week nine brought Jackson breaking his foot after tripping over a root unearthed from week four's downpours, and nearly leading to a mutiny from the other male campsite since they would be down a counselor for the rest of the summer. Stiles may or may not have made Jackson a going away present of a construction paper crown decorated with so much glitter it was difficult to touch. Jackson may or may not have worn it while Lydia took pictures.

* * *

Week ten was much like week one had been, except for the injuries, except that all of the counselors got to eat their lunch after the kids had left and then went back to their tent to pack their own things after wishing each other luck for the rest of the rummer. Stiles couldn't keep himself from dawdling, though, even going so far as to actually fold everything that he was putting into his bag, and it didn't go unnoticed that Derek was following at a similar pace. They had their goodbyes with Scott and Isaac, and then it was just the two of them.

Derek was the first to speak. "Do you have any plans for the rest of the summer?"

Double-checking that the lids of all of his toiletries were on tight, Stiles shook his head. "I've got another 3 weeks before I have to be back at school, but I'm free until then. Why, wanting to plan a few more dates?"

"Actually..." Derek shoved a dirty t-shirt down the side of his own bag. "I was wondering if you might want to come stay at my place, actually. We've been doing a lot of sneaking time together and having dates, but... I think I want to try doing things like cooking together, and maybe actually getting to sleep in the same bed?"

Stiles' mouth hung open for a moment. "I'm not staying at your place all three weeks. I've barely seen my dad this summer, so as long as things seem to be working out? Then you're going to have to come stay with me for a little bit, too."

"So... that's a yes." A pair of shorts fell out of Derek's hand as he looked at Stiles.

Shoving the rest of his things in his bag in one fell swoop, Stiles took the few steps toward Derek that closed the distance between them and smiled. "Did you really have any doubts? Dude, we've made love under the stars and fed each other strawberries and we have argued about comic book characters and the best kind of dog to have. You're basically stuck with me until you tell me you don't want me around. Well, except for when I actually do the school thing, but I'll still be close by so we can see each other. Oh! But, I should stop by my place first to tell my dad since my phone is dead like that bird that Mike kid tried to take home a couple of weeks ago and grab my computer since I need to actually do my school registration and that has all of my info on it."

Sliding his hands around Stiles' waist, Derek pressed a soft kiss against his lips. "Do you want to borrow my phone and see about going there first? I can keep my hands to myself for a week or two if I need to."

"Yeah, but I can't." Stiles laughed, pressing his face against Derek's shoulder for a moment. "You know this is crazy, right? Finding what we have, even if this is all we get, so young? If it ends tomorrow because you realize you can't handle how I do the dishes, it's still going to be one of the top five things ever to happent to me."

Derek pulled Stiles closer to him. "Stop thinking it has to end. You deserve happiness, Stiles. Demand it, even from me."

"We'll go to your place," Stiles said, the words nearly tripping his tongue. "We'll do weekends with my dad. But, if you want to come with me to meet him at first so it's not quite as awkward that first weekend..."

"Okay." Derek smiled. "We'll go to a baseball game. You said your dad liked baseball, right?"

Pulling back with a grin, Stiles finished packing his bag and hefted it onto his shoulder. "You take my dad to a game and buy him a hotdog and a beer and he will possibly love you more than I do. And, yes. Love. We were hinting at it pretty strongly week one, but nine more weeks of being around you has made me pretty damn sure of how I feel."

"You're not alone in that, Stiles. Not at all." Derek zipped up his own bag before dropping down to the ground and looking under the bed to make sure they had everything. "Okay, I think that's everything. Are you ready to get on the road?"

Stiles nodded. "I am, although we should probably stop to get gas first. And, uh, I guess I need your address and you need mine. We never even really talked about where we live, but I did assume that you didn't live too far from here because I don't."

"Do you know where Hill Valley is? Obviously not the 'Back to the Future' one, but the one about an hour north of here." Derek shrugged. "It's a small town, so a lot of people in the area don't even know it."

"I do." Stiles smirked. "Y'know how I told you my dad's a Sheriff? He's the Sheriff of Beacon Hills. I think we can stay at your place and still make a baseball game and lunch and stuff with my dad."

Derek's face seemed to almost split from his smile. "Almost next door, then. So maybe we would have met even if I hadn't come here."

"But you did, and now I'm convinced that summer never actually ends. Or, at least, that it doesn't have to." Stiles pulled his keys from his pocket and jangled them in the air. "Let's get a move on. I'm just going to surprise my dad with you. It'll be fun, and if he gets angry? We'll go straight to your place."

Stepping out of the tent for the last time, Derek let out a soft hum of approval. "Are you going to come back here next year?"

Stiles followed him outside and smiled up at the sun, his eyes squeezing shut. "I guess we'll see what our options are then." He looked over at Derek, still squinting. "As it turns out, life is actually surprising sometimes and maybe planning ahead is pretty useless."

Derek pushed past a low-hanging branch with one raised eyebrow. "You're ridiculous. Now, how about we actually get moving? Your memories will stay with you even if you're sitting on hot leather instead of standing in dead leaves."

"I'll just remember the other hot things I've sat on this summer. Like, say, your lap. Or the lifeguard chair that one day when my shorts rode up." Stiles took one last deep breath as he looked around. "Totally the best summer ever."

Reaching out a hand, Derek gripped Stiles' and began pulling him toward the parking area. "You can't call it that until it's over."

Stiles' fingers curled tightly around Derek's. "That's the thing, though. I'm actually pretty sure that I can." He smiled and felt the gentle twist of something within him when Derek returned a smile that seemed to mirror his own. "Although, we can always try for a better one next time. I think we can do it."

Derek nodded, still smiling. "At the very least, I don't think I'd mind trying."

"Me either." Stiles hopped over the same root that had tripped Jackson a few weeks prior and laughed. "But first, let's conquer autumn."

Snorting, Derek nudged his wrist against Stiles' side. "Deal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's finally done! And before summer is over! I'm kind of excited about that. Thank you everyone who has been reading, and especially those who are subscribed or who have bookmarked or left kudos or comments. Those things do actually mean a lot. <3


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